Restore 100 Hectares of the Miyagi Coastal Forest

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has supported the Coastal Forest Restoration Project. Each year, we welcome volunteers from spring to autumn to assist with the maintenance of the pine tree forests. In November, we completed the final volunteer activity for the year. We are relieved that we were able to finish without any injuries or accidents.

On November 16, we conducted a growth survey of the black pine trees. We measured the tree height and trunk diameter to assess this year’s growth. Additionally, we calculated the accumulation and prepared for the planned logging, which will start in January. The number of dump trucks needed for transporting the cut black pine trees is determined by this calculation.
The height measurement is carried out by two people. One person holds the measuring instrument while the other stands next to the tree and guides the measurements. The person standing next to the tree with a measuring device cannot see the top of the tree from below so another one is guiding.

Additionally, on this day, we worked on creating drainage ditches in areas with poor water drainage. Though digging the hard soil with a shovel was physically demanding, our volunteers, who understood the importance of the work for improving the growth of the black pines, worked diligently.

Now, for some good news in our final report of the year:
On November 22, we were honored to receive a letter of appreciation from Miyagi Prefecture as part of the "2024 Forest Development and Wood Use Awards." We were recognized for our significant contributions to the restoration of coastal forests in Natori City. The announcement mentioned that we have actively engaged local citizens and volunteers from across Japan for over 10 years, promoting tree planting and care while creating local employment related to coastal forest restoration in Natori City. While recruiting more than 10,000 volunteers from across the country, we have also contributed significantly to the reforestation and awareness of coastal disaster prevention forests.

This award is thanks to the support and cooperation of many people who have helped us. We are deeply grateful.
Looking ahead, we plan to carry out thinning work between January and February. While this will be done in cold conditions, we will prioritize safety in our activities.
Thank you for your continued support.

The beginning of June, Dendrolimus spectabilis, which only consumes pine, had abnormally occurred, and we were busy dealing with the issue. There were lots of confirms in occuring of another caterpillar, some caterpillars had poison. Our staff and volunteers who related to work were stung by poisonous hair, and they received damage such as; an itching sensation in their arms and neck. Although Dendrolimus spectabilis doesn’t have personal damage, they ordinally consume pine leaves so if we keep letting loose them, pine’s leaves would disappear in an instant. It’s obvious that the result of decline of photosynthetic rate, stopping tree height stretch, the trunk not becoming thick, and decreasing root’s growth. In order to grow strong coastal forest, it’s really necessary to exterminate above caterpillars.

By getting the cooperation of 182 volunteers in total, we executed caterpillar extermination by spraying in 1.75ha (equivalent to 5,775 Japanese black pines) of the most damaging area in our project on three days from 13 to 15 in June. We estimated that we could exterminate more than 30,000 caterpillars. Next week, the pesticide was sprayed by power sprayer by the cooperation of all people from the organization of the Natori-shi shore forest reproduction (Natori-shi kaiganrin saisei no kai) who are in charge of making plants. Contrary to this fact, We could check that caterpillars have spread over a span of approximately 23 ha north of 100 ha in after survey, hence we decided to execute aerial chemical spraying by helicopter on June 26th.

On that day, 2 aerial work platforms to carry operators who control 2 helicopters, 2 tracks which load equipment and chemicals and 9 expert staff were gathered at 4am. The reason why we start work in the early morning, if it is a morning when the wind is light the risk of the chemical scattering out of the forest would be decreased. 30L chemicals were sprayed per 1 ha. Different from drones, the helicopter’s chemical carrying capacity is a lot and can work efficiently,therefore spraying to approximately 32ha forests and withdrawal of all equipment finished at 8am.

Toshimichi Yoshida who is in charge of this project mentioned that “Though I thought that the time will come that aerial chemical spraying by helicopter would be demand to suppress the damage from Dendrolimus spectabilis one of these days, I didn’t expect that we’ll be flying helicopters to exterminate caterpillars.”, and he appreciate that “Thank to all of you who support us, we were able to decide quickly.” We’ll patrol 100ha’s pine forest regularly, not to miss small abnormalities, and deal with it immediately if there are some factors to avoid pine’s improvement and we would like to grow strong coastal forest. Thank you for your continued support.