First Day at Hyakumori

Overview of Nishiawakura Village

Nishiawakura is a village located in the Northeastern part of Okayama Prefecture, Japan, near the border of Hyogo and Tottori. Nishiawakura covers 57.97 square kilometers of land which consists of 95% forest, where 84% are artificial forests that are mainly composed of Japanese Cypress (Hinoki) and Cedar (Sugi). Many of the artificial forests in Japan were planted in the post war era. Unfortunately, the forests were neglected and poorly managed due to the increase of inexpensive lumber imports from foreign countries. In recent years, Japan has made efforts to revitalize their domestic forestry industry. In Nishiawakura, the “100-year Vision of Forests” initiative was started in 2008 and its aim was to preserve and manage the forest to ensure that it becomes a 100-year old forest. The initiative has increased the value of timber of the village and prompted the local forestry and wood product industry.

Hyakumori employee collecting Diameter Breast Height (DBH) data

Hyakumori manages around 2200 hectares of forest, where 1000 hectares are owned by the village. The remaining 1200 hectares are privately-owned that have formed contracts entrusting the forest management to the village office. Hyakumori is subcontracted to manage the forests entrusted to the village. The management done by Hyakumori involve thinning of trees, maintenance and designing of forest roads and data collection. This allows Hyakumori to create plans for each section of the forest to ensure that they are well managed.

Workers collecting sales data

On July 8, 2019, I was taken to see the log yard market which is where logs are auctioned off to various sawmill companies. These auctions are held 2 to 3 times a month and allows local sawmill companies to get a supply of Hinoki and Sugi. Each log are sorted based off size, species, straightness, and defects. Hyakumori employees were there to collect data about sale prices of logs and the quality of logs being sold at the auction. The data collected from the auction will then be sent to local sawmills to ensure that they are getting fair prices on the logs they pay for. It is vital for the sawmills to get fair price on logs as it is one of the main sources of sustainable income for the Nishiawakura.