Background and history of activities in Tochigi Prefecture

The revival of a place where people used to live together with numerous plants and animals, managed by human hands as a rural district, is linked to the maintenance of ecosystems and the landscape. The town of Ichikai, Tochigi Prefecture, is a breeding ground for the gray-faced buzzard-eagle, where a rural environment with diverse biotas remains. However, in recent years, the loss of habitat due to development and other causes and the abandonment of farmland and forestland due to depopulation and the aging of society have led to such problems as the land growing increasingly wild, resulting in simplification of its biotas, proliferation of invasive species, and increasing wildlife damage, causing a decrease in the gray-faced buzzard-eagle population. In addition, while numerous rural areas with historical value remain in the residential districts of the town of Mashiko, including burial mounds and household remains, because of inadequate care, it would be desirable to attract more people to the area.

In cooperation with the Tochigi Conservation Corps, an NPO in the area, through the intermediary of the specified nonprofit organization, NICE, Group employees (FY 2018: nine employees; FY 2019: six employees) took part in these activities. In the rural preservation activities for a breeding ground for the gray-faced buzzard-eagle, they weeded a forest area and thinned unnecessary trees to enable light and air-flow to reach the forest floor. In the activities to protect historical facilities uncared for because of depopulation and the aging of society, they thinned bamboo woods that had grown on the formerly farmed area in order to restore the beautiful landscape, which includes burial mounds and household remains but had become inaccessible to the increasingly wildness of the land, and to made it a space more hospitable to people.