2004 WORLD HERITAGE LIST NOMINATION ● JAPAN

3c. Form and date of most recent
records of property
Topography/Geology• Geological Survey of Japan (Currently; National Institute of Advanced
Industrial Science and Technology, Geological Survey of Japan) has
issued 1:50,000 scale geologic maps including the nominated site from1965 to 1971.
Climate• Japan Meteorological Agency annually issues AMeDAS (AutomatedMeteorological Data Acquisition System) observations that include
data on air temperature, precipitation, wind direction/speed, sunshine
duration and snow depth (Japan Meteorological Agency, 2002).
• In addition to Japan Meteorological Agency stations, the Hokkaido
Regional Development Bureau has established monitoring sites tocollect data on daily precipitation, average air temperature, averageroad surface temperature, average wind speed, maximum averagewind speed, snowfall, average snow depth, average visibility, minimum
visibility and average atmospheric pressure.

Description

Sea Ice• Japan Coast Guard constantly monitors the condition of the sea ice via
its sea ice monitoring radars and the information on sea ice is available
on its website.
(http://www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/KAN1/1center.html)
Plants• The vegetation map of the area including the nominated site has beencreated through a follow-up study by the Environment Agency’s ThirdNational Survey on the Natural Environment and published as a reportin 1987 (Environment Agency, 1987).
• A list of the vascular plant of the Shiretoko Peninsula is described in
the Environment Agency’s Onnebetsudake Wilderness Area Survey
Report (Sato, K. et al., 1985).
• The Shiretoko Museum makes out a flora list of the Shiretoko
Peninsula. This list is constantly updated and made available on thewebsite.
(http://www.ohotuku26.or.jp/shari/museum/) (in Japanese)• Important plant communities in the nominated site were identified in afollow-up study by the Environment Agency’s Fifth National Survey on
the Natural Environment and published as a report in 2000
(Environment Agency 2000).
• The location of trees larger than 3 meters in girth of the tree trunk
were identified in a follow-up study by the Environment Agency’s
Sixth National Survey on the Natural Environment and published as areport in 2001 (Environment Agency 2001).
Mammals• A list of terrestrial and marine mammals of the Shiretoko Peninsula isdescribed in the book edited by the Shiretoko Museum (2000). This
list is constantly updated and made available on the website.
(http://www.ohotuku26.or.jp/shari/museum/) (in Japanese)54

Brown bear Ursus arctos photo by Ministry of the Environment

Description• With regard to the density of the brown bear population, the minimum
number of bears in the area is estimated by Aoi (1981) and Yamanaka
et al. (1995) based on the number of bears reported to be sighted andlive-captured by traps. The results are published in reports.
• The number of visiting Steller sea lions is reported annually in the“Report on the Project to Establish a Fishery System which maintains
the Marine ecosystem” by the Japan Marine Fishery Resources
Research Center.
• With regard to the number of the Yezo sika deer in the entire
Shiretoko Peninsula, the results of helicopter censuses were reported
at the 2003 annual conference of the Mammalogical Society of Japan(Yamanaka et al., 2003). In addition, with regard to population
dynamics, censuses have been conducted annually for more than 10years in Horobetsu/Iwaobetsu, Shiretoko Cape, Rausu town districts
and once in 1995 at the Rusha/Teppanbetsu district (Shiretoko NatureFoundation, 2003).
Birds• A list of birds is described in the research report by the Shiretoko
Museum (1999). The list is constantly updated and the data is
accumulated by the Museum.
• The number of migratory Steller’s sea eagles and white-tailed eagles
has been annually recorded by the Working Group for White-tailed
Eagles and Steller’s Sea Eagles in their White-tailed eagle/Steller’s sea
eagle joint simultaneous survey since 1980 (Working Group for Whitetailed Eagles and Steller’s Sea Eagles 1988 and unpublished).
• Nesting status of seabird is summarized by Fukuda (2000).
Reptiles and Amphibians• A list of reptiles and amphibians is made out by the Shiretoko Museum.
The list is constantly updated and is made available on the website.
(http://www.ohotuku26.or.jp/shari/museum/) (in Japanese)
Fishes• The information is summarized and published as “Fishes of Shiretoko”
by the Shiretoko Museum of Shari town (Shiretoko Museum, 2003).
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2004 WORLD HERITAGE LIST NOMINATION ● JAPAN• Hokkaido prefectural government assesses the fish stock, and issues“Manual of the conservation and management of fishery resources inHokkaido” annually (Hokkaido, 2003).

3d. Present state of conservation
The nature of the nominated site is well conserved. Within thenominated site, more than 90 percent of the terrestrial area is covered innatural vegetation and there is little impact of human activity.

Description

Although the nominated site contains some privately owned lands thatare mostly abandoned settlements, nearly all such lands have beenpurchased through a program to reclaim land for nature conservation
initiated by Shari town. Currently, there are actions to regenerate theforest using native trees on the land repurchased through the program.
This program, “The Shiretoko 100 Square-Meter Forest Trust” wasstarted in 1977. There was high interest throughout Japan in thisprogram and with its initiation, donations started pouring in. Twentyyears after the start of the program, the target amount of donation wasachieved in March 1997. The number of participants reached 49,000 andthe total amount of donations reached 520 million yen. Approximately 97
percent of the land targeted for repurchase has already been conserved
and some 420,000 seedlings have been planted. With the achievement of
its target, Shari town passed a new regulation designating a total area of
862 hectares on the mountainside of the Shiretoko mountain range (acombined area of some 460 hectares conserved through the program,plus the surrounding land owned by the town), as a “non-transferablearea” in order to ensure its permanent conservation.
Furthermore, in order to promote the restoration of the virgin forest thatonce covered this area and to revive the abundant wildlife and thenatural ecosystem, “The 100 Square-Meter Forest Movement Trust” wasstarted in June 1997. The nature restoration plan for the movement isbased on an intensive discussion by a committee with experts fromvarious fields. The unique features of the plan are: i) the objective is not56

Protection of the barks from deer in the Forest of the "100 Square-Meter Movement Forest Trust"
photo by Shiretoko Nature Foundation

to create an artificial forest but to establish a natural forest which
eventually lead to the recovery of virgin forests with an extremely longrange view; ii) the objective is to restore not only the forest but also theentire ecosystem which includes the number of wildlife and the cycle ofthe ecosystems. There are also conservation activities regarding theriver basins. Examples of the activities conducted since 1999 include:
restoration and conservation of forests along the riverbanks; recovering
natural spawning of chum salmon Oncorhynchus keta and pink salmon
Oncorhynchus gorbuscha ; reintroduction of the masu salmon
Oncorhynchus masou masou in order to restore the fauna which once
existed in the rivers of the trust land.
In the ecosystem of the nominated site, brown bears are the largest
mammal and the high density of their population is an important
indicator of rich and virgin condition of the natural environment. In thenominated site, a minimum of 21 bears inhabit in 60 square kilometers(approximately 0.35 bear/square kilometer) which is a high population
density.

Description

The population density of the Yezo sika deer for the entire nominatedsite was estimated by helicopter censuses conducted in 2003. In addition,
there have been censuses conducted in four locations within thenominated site to determine the Yezo sika deer population density. The
results of these censuses are organized by the Shiretoko Nature
Foundation (2003) and used in the conservation and management ofwildlife (Table 3-3).
Table 3-3 Density studies of the Yezo sika deer in the Shiretoko Peninsula
District

MethodDate2003

Density or No. of deer

Entire area

Helicopter census

Horobetsu/Iwaobetsu

Searchlight census Oct. 2002 Horobetsu: 4.4 deer/km
Iwaobetsu: 7.0 deer/km

Shiretoko Cape

Airplane census

Rausu town

Searchlight census Jan. 2002 12.7 deer/km
Feb. 2002 7.0 deer/km

Rusha/Teppanbetsu

Searchlight census 1995

2002

4,333 – 6,235 deer

512 deer

3.4 deer/km

Yezo sika deer Cervus nippon yesoensis photo by Ministry of the Environment

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2004 WORLD HERITAGE LIST NOMINATION ● JAPANWith regard to the globally threatened Steller’s sea eagle (VU, IUCNRed List) and white-tailed eagle (LR, IUCN Red List), several hundred
birds of each species have been observed to visit the Shari/Rausu areas
in recent years (Working Group for White-tailed Eagles and Steller’s Sea
Eagles, unpublished) and while there are some yearly fluctuations, thefigures indicate that an excellent wintering site is being maintained(Table 3-4).

Description

Table 3-4 The number of Steller’s sea eagles and white-tailed eagles observed
Year

No. of Steller's sea eagles

No. of white-tailed eagles

1993

274.2

101.8

1994

143.6

78.4

1995

227.3

141.7

1996

615.6

257.4

1997

227.1

118.9

1998

169.1

124.9

1999

904.6

276.4

2000

845.4

265.6

2001

767.9

240.1

2002

262.1

116.0

N.B. The numbers include decimals because the number of unidentified eagles (either Steller’s seaeagle or white-tailed eagle) are divided according to the ratio of identified eagles and added.

Steller's sea eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus photo by ISII Eiji

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With regard to the Blakiston’s fish- owl (EN, IUCN Red List),conservation efforts are ongoing through the “Rehabilitation of Natural
Habitats and Maintenance of Viable Population” program for this species
by the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry Agency, and 56 nest
boxes have been installed in the nominated site. Since 1986, breeding ofBlakiston’s fish-owl has been confirmed every year, and 61 chicks thathave hatched in these nest boxes were banded (Table 3-5) and have beenmonitored.
Table 3-5: The number of nest boxes installed for the Blakiston’s fish-owl andthe number of chicks banded
No. of nest boxes installed
6No. of chicks banded

1984

91985

41986

11198752198851198942199011199121199203199325199422199535199636199738199821199935

2000

01200115200208

2003―4Total56

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Artificial production and fry release programs for salmon and trout are
mainly conducted in four rivers, and the population surveys are carriedout in many rivers within the Shiretoko Peninsula. In addition to legalsystems such as Fisheries Law and Hokkaido Inland Water ControlRules, these research results contribute to sustainable management of
the salmon and trout stocks. In particular, the population density of dolly
varden Salvelinus malma and masu salmon in the 37 rivers in theShiretoko Peninsula is more than 20 salmon per 100 square meters(Taniguchi et al., 2002) and there is almost no change from thecorresponding figure in 1991 (Shimoda et al., 1993). In general, fisheryresources are controlled by Fisheries Laws, regulations of Hokkaido
prefectural government and voluntary restrictions by the fisheryindustry.

Description

Year
1983

Bird banding on Blakiston’s fish-owl
Ketupa blakistoni blakistoni
photo by Ministry of the Environment

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2004 WORLD HERITAGE LIST NOMINATION ● JAPAN3e. Policies and programs
promoting the property
Since there are only a limited number of roads and trails within thenominated site, visitors are restricted to specific routes and the integrityof the rest of the virgin natural environment is preserved. It is therefore
considered imperative that close attention is paid to ensuring that thevirgin natural environment is well conserved for future generations
when offering access to and providing awareness programs about thenominated site.
Issues regarding visitor access and awareness programs have been
managed by the Ministry of the Environment, Forestry Agency, local
governments, and other related organizations. However, it is going to becoordinated by a regional liaison committee, which has established forthe effective conservation and management of the nominated site.

Description

With regard to the usage of the nominated site for tourism, nature
exploration, angling and other activities, it should be managed properly
according to the nature of each activity. To this effect, it is planned toestablish new rules for utilization of the site, “Shiretoko Rules”, that arepertinent to the virgin nature of Shiretoko. These rules will be
formulated by relevant government agencies together with experts fromvarious fields, related local groups, and so on.
In addition, the Ministry of the Environment, Forestry Agency and localgovernments, in cooperation with local NPOs, are going to promote thediversification of usage of the site to prevent excessive concentration. Itis planned to disperse visitors through the provision of information andprograms on the use of various natural and cultural resources in andaround the nominated site. With these actions, it is aimed to conservevirgin natural environment and to offer a high quality experience giving
a deep impression to the visitors at the same time. Further, it enhances
the understanding of ecotourism that can contribute to development of
the area taking into account the nature conservation.
With regard to tourist safety, visitors are instructed to take necessary
precautions against accidents and to be aware of their responsibility for
managing risks to their own person.
Relevant agencies will collaborate and conduct intermittent monitoring
activities on usage and its impacts on the natural environment, andaccording to the results of these monitoring, appropriate countermeasures
will be taken.

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