Forest Environment Educationand Local Management
Case Study of Shimokawa Town, Hokkaido
Tsubasa Aso¹
1. Representative director, Forest Life, tsubasa0831@gmail.com

Abstract
Sustainability in the fields of economy, society and environment is a point at issue everywhere in
the world. In Shimokawa Town, northern Hokkaido, in which forests occupy 90% of the total
surface of township, this goal is now being pursued through the actions to promote recycling
forestry based on repetitive plantation and felling, industry creation by way of wood processing,self-sufficiency of energy supply by applying wooden biomass, and diffusion of the on forestry
environment education for local children. This movement is a crucial model for sustainable local
management using forests.
Key words: sustainability, recycling, forest, wood processing, biomass, education

1. Introduction
ofhow
toutilize
forestry
appropriately in Shimokawa , Hokkaido.
1.1.

resource

The outline of Shimokawa.

Shimokawa is located in the northern part of central Hokkaido , Japan’s northernmost island. The
town has a population of about 3,300, and the forest shares 90% of its land.Fig.1: The outline of Shimokawa

In recent years, Shimokawa gets attention from Japanese government and autonomy officials andcitizen’s group due to the tackle toward utilization of forestry resource for increasingsustainability of the town. Because, in Japan, almost all of city’s (except for big cities like Tokyo,
Osaka etc.) population is decreasing and becoming issues of economy shrinking and weak social
infrastructure, the towns are looking for the way of increasing sustainability of it. Therefore they
expect Shimokawa to be a good example as an model which promotes sustainability in the fields
of economy, society and environment .
1.2.

The effort of the appropriate use of forestry resource.

Once, Shimokawa’s main industry had been forestry and mining. At that time, in about 1960, The
town had the largest population, approximately 15,000. Later, however, in 1980s, the mines had
been closed. It had caused rapid population decline. So, Shimokawa made a decision of buying
forest and advancing forestry and forest industry for growing sustainable economy in the town.
There are three key points on the way of the usage of forestry resource. First, we basically apply
the 60 years cycle of cutting and planting trees. Second, we make the most of its resource. We
produce various kind of wood products, not only architectural but furniture, craft, and evenessential oil. Third, the wood that we can’t make any products from, have been energy resourceas biomass. For example it is used for heating and hot water supply of public buildings. About
60 % heat energy of public buildings have been made from woody biomass.

Fig.2: The usage of forestry resource

2. 15-Years integrated
Shimokawa.
2.1.

forestenvironment

education

inBackground.

There are one kindergarten （3 years）, one elementary school （6 years）, one junior high school(3 years) and one high school (3 years) in Shimokawa. We work on education of forest forchildren in these institutions. As we continue the effort mentioned above, we should develop thehuman resources who understand the importance of forestry resource for future. So, we tackle 15years integrated forest education for local children.
Firstly, in 2006, Forest Life which is NPO established in 2005 in Shimokawa. I am arepresentative of it now. We started the program to play in forest with kindergarten’s children. Inthe next year, we started to teach children of the elementary school, junior high school and highschool with cooperation of Shimokawa’s autonomy. Then, in 2009, We made the programs ofteaching all schools’ children in shimokawa as 15-years integrated forest education. Now, forest

environment education has been provided once a month at the kindergarten, once a year at theelementary school, junior high school and high school.

Fig.3: 15-years integrated forest education

2.2 Objectives and how to conduct forest environment education.
The objectives of Shimokawa’s forest environment education are as follows:
・To help the growth of children’s mind through learning in local natural environment.

・To help the growth of children to be a human who can think and act toward environmental
issues.

・To help the children’s deep understanding the importance of forestry resource and local
economy yielded from it.

How to conduct forest environment education is as follows:
The autonomy of Shimokawa allots budget for forest environment education for one year, andentrusts the budget to the Forest Life. Then, Forest Life organizes and operates programs withteachers of each grade.

3. Practice examples and evaluation.

3.1.

The Outline of Shimokawa’s forest environment education programs

The forest environment education programs are organized and operated based on the Learnig
About Forests （LEAF） program which originated in northern Europe. LEAF program focuseson the forest resource’s values of economy, society, environment and culture. So we try to help
the children to be able to understand these values well-balanced. We conduct the program inactual forests.
List of programs in the school year of 2018 is as follows:<Shimokawa kindergarten>
April: Taking a walk in spring forest
May: Planting trees
June: A field trip with parents
July: Taking a walk in summer forest
August 1: Craftwork with wood materials
August 2: A field trip in summer
September: Cooking of harvested potatoes with fallen leaves
October: Taking a walk in autumn forest
November: Taking a walk in winter forest
January : Sliding slope in snow
February 1: Sliding slope in snow
February 2: Playing with snow1
February 3: Playing with snow2
February 4: Completion ceremony

Fig.4: Playing with snow

<Shimokawa elementary school>
First graders: Finding their favorite tree
After they read the picture book about forest, they go to forest and find their favorite tree. They
draw a picture of the tree and give the name which comes from the characteristics of the tree.
Finally the pictures are shared with all classmates.
Second graders: Making their own picture book of trees
This program helps them to understand tree species. They are divided into some groups. Eachgroups are given some types of leaf and looking for the owner tree of the leaf in the wood. Afterfinding the owner tree, they find out the tree species to edit a simple picture book. Finally they
make a presentation of it to the others.
Third graders: Finding out about creatures living in forest
This program helps them to understand biodiversity and creatures’ relationships. They find theirfavorite creatures in the forest, for example tree, flower, insect, mushroom, and so on. And theylook up the creatures’ name and ecology by using dictionaries. Finally they think over therelationship between “to eat” and “to be eaten”. Through these, they notice all creatures have theimportant role in forest.

Third graders: Finding out about creatures living in forest
This program helps them to understand the growing process of artificial forest. They visit artificial
forests at various stages from just after being planted to just before being cut and study how tocare of the forests.
Fifth graders: Studying what products we can produce from wood in Shimokawa
They visit some factories, for example, sawmill, furniture making, craft making and so on, andinterview workers. Through these, They learn that producing wood products yields industry rather
than just selling logs or raw materials.
Sixth graders: Studying wood’s characteristics as materials used in daily life
Thay make their chopsticks by their own hand, and study wood’s characteristics as materials.

Fig.5: Studying what products we can produce from wood

<Shimokawa junior high school>
First graders: Practicing charcoal grill
In 1981, a lot of Shimokawa’s artificial forest’s wood had fallen due to snow damage. The forest
workers at the time started to make charcoal by the fallen wood. They study the history andpractice charcoal grill with the wood they cut from forest near their school.

Second graders: Short internship of work in Shimokawa
They help worker in each workplace, for example, the forestry association, the timber factories
and so on.
Third graders: Listening to people working in Shimokawa
This program helps them to think about their future, through listening to people working inShimokawa, and interview them.
<Shimokawa High School of Commerce>First graders: Studying utilization of forestry resource for increasing sustainability
They study how to promote advancing forestry and forest industry for growing sustainableeconomy by utilization forestry resource in Shimokawa, as various products and energy.
Second graders: Studying relationship of animal and human
In Hokkaido, there are problems that some animals such as deer and bears damage forest andagriculture. They think over why these problems occur and how we can solve them, throughvisiting the damaged fields and listening to farmers and forestry workers.
Third graders: making products using woods
This program helps them to understand the process of production activities. They plan and makeproducts from wood. They visit Sapporo, the largest city in Hokkaido, and sell the products.

Fig.5: making products using woods

3.2.

Evaluation of the programs.

We evaluate the programs by questionnaire to teachers afterward. For example the questions andscores are as follows (the score numbers mean from 1 as the lowest to 5 as the highest):
Have the goals of the program been shared among the conductors and the teachers ? 4.2
Have the goals of the program been achieved ? 4.2
Have the program respected their own interest and notice ? 4.1
Have the proglam been done safely ? 4.7
Then we open the meetings talking about planning and improvement programs with each school’steacher and autonomy staffs.

4. Outlook.
We should be able to make clever decision for sustainability. For the purpose, it is essential tounderstand the importance of forest resource and to build good relationships with our living.
In Japan, there is a coined word “glocal”. This word means “think globally, act locally”. Throughrecycling forestry, appropriate using wood and environment education for local children, We want
to be a “glocal” model of sustainable local management using forests.