3.3.3. Forestry and Non-Forestry Activities

Only FPC H conducted a final harvest of timber; it also sold timber generated from thinning activities. FPC F also conducted thinning and sold timber. No FPC was producing non-timber forest products, such as mushrooms.

Five FPCs (A, C, D, E, and H) engaged in non-forestry activities, all of which involved leasing land to other businesses, such as quarries. As explained in the following section, these FPCs enjoyed large annual incomes. In addition to present incomes, some FPCs held monetary assets that were obtained by selling forestland in the past. Although FPCs B and I had no income, they managed to pay taxes using the assets that they had obtained in the past. FPC D had a large amount of assets due to land selling to a development project.

#### 3.3.4. Case Study Information

This section provides detailed case study information for each FPC, including members' perspectives.

[FPC A]

FPC A was the most active among the surveyed FPCs. It had finished planting Japanese cedar trees by 1995 and conducted tending operations, such as weeding, improving cutting, and thinning. It had working crews for forestry operations, which is rare for an FPC. As of 2019, 18 people worked at the FPC: eight were in their 60s, and six were in their 70s. In addition to the tending operations conducted by work crews, provision of labor, such as the weeding of coastal pine forests, was mandatory for ordinary members.

FPC A held substantial assets, including their own office, because it received annual income from a land lease contract with a company for a quarry, amounting to several million Japanese yen. Thus, FPC A enjoyed stable and substantial money from non-forestry activities, and members could afford to pay the taxes related to the FPC.

In addition to the above-mentioned activities, the members were working on disaster recovery. A landslide occurred in part of their forest in 2018; consequently, they had to remove tree debris to get the roads back to normal conditions.

Even in FPC A, the number of members has decreased from 150 people in 1965 to 91 people in 2009 to 72 people in 2018. The members foresaw that this trend would continue, due to depopulation and population aging.

The president of the FPC told the author that the members were proud of maintaining appropriate forest management, thanks to good income from non-forestry activities, and that they would like to keep the status quo. With increasing societal attention to the role of forests in environmental conservation, they would like to contribute to the public as a forest owner and manager. The president said that in the future, they might want to conduct basic forestry operations for other private (individually owned) forests through contracts.

[FPC B]

FPC B had a history of developing planted forests of Japanese cedar and cypress through a benefit-sharing contract with the city where it is located. Planting started in 1962, before the establishment of the FPC, and the area within its purview is approximately 6 ha. One custodian was hired from the community to supervise this area. The contract with the city emphasizes the importance of the afforestation of mountains and the enrichment of water sources; it is implied that these public functions were of great importance when the FPC was established.

In addition to the planted forests as per the city contract, FPC B had also planted approximately 3 ha of Japanese cedar and cypress. The members conducted tending operations of weeding and thinning, although they had not been able to target all the planted forests that needed tending.

The members received a subsidy from the prefecture for thinning operations, which they entrusted to an FOC. Simple operations, such as weeding, were managed by executive members, which consisted of 15 people in rotation every three years. They intentionally rotated executive members to expose younger members to their *iriai* forest.

FPC B gained no income from forestry and had no constant non-forestry income. In the past, it had sold part of the forestland to the prefecture to construct a check dam; it used the money from this land sale to pay corporate taxes.

The number of cooperative members had decreased from 164 people in 1962 to 90 people in 2018, most of whom were more than 60 years old.

Nevertheless, FPC members had no intention of dissolution or status change. They had managed *iriai* forests in the present form, and so, they would probably continue to in this way. The president told the author that all citizens should bear the management of forests because forests and mountains have public functions, and more support from subsidies was needed because there are limitations to what one cooperative can do.

[FPC C]

The forest area of FPC C is small: 7 ha. Forest accessibility was not bad and the planted Japanese cedar trees were mature. However, the FPC had no immediate plan to fell and sell them, and tending operations were not necessarily required. As a result, FPC C's activities were mostly absent. According to its members' perceptions, the FPC is "on leave" from its activities and operations as a cooperative. At the same time, the members did not want to dissolve or change their status to an ANA. FPC C had a constant income source from leasing land for the placement of telephone poles. It had also sold part of its forests to the city to make roads, through which they received a large amount of money. In this way, the members could afford to pay taxes.

#### [FPC D]

FPC D was the richest of the surveyed FPCs. It had sold part of its forestland around 40 years ago for a natural park development project, receiving a huge amount of money (more than 100 million Japanese yen). Part of this money had been used for community development, such as renovating a shrine and the community hall. In addition, the FPC had an annual income from leasing land for the placement of sign boards. Consequently, FPC D had no problem paying taxes. They even used their income to enjoy tours to other FPC cases to study management or advanced forestry activities.

The community where FPC D worked had some newcomers. While the FPC had 32 (meaning 32 households) members in 2019, there were more than 140 households in the community. This meant that younger generations lived in the community and participated in tending operations, such as weeding. Even though the number of cooperative members was decreasing, they were optimistic about maintaining this FPC through younger generations, substantive assets, and constant non-forestry income sources.

Part of the forest of FPC D had been designated as a forest reserve for water cultivation. The forests were regarded as important to local environmental conservation.

#### [FPC E]

FPC E was also a wealthy FPC; it had contracted with a private mining company and leased part of their forestland as a quarry. The FPC received a large annual income from this land leasing—approximately 9.5 million Japanese yen. In addition to corporate taxes, its income tax was massive; however, the FPC had no problem paying it. FPC E also provided dividends to its members.

The number of members was decreasing; however, the rate of decrease was not very severe. The decrease was due to the decline in the population residing in the community. Few FPC members withdrew from membership and the members mostly enjoyed the benefits of cooperative activities.

Exceptionally, in FPC E, members had conducted thinning operations by themselves, with daily allowances; in principle, this was mandatory. According to the president, annual operations fostered a sense of responsibility among members.

[FPC F]

A large part of FPC F's forest had been designated as a forest reserve for water source cultivation. The members had maintained a high level of frequency of tending operations: they conducted weeding and monitoring of forest-area boundaries every year by themselves, and they entrusted thinning to an FOC using a subsidy. The maintenance of trails of the nearby mountain was entrusted to FPC F by the city with a subsidy for this work.

A year before the author's survey, FPC F received forestry income from timber generated from thinning. However, this was exceptional; in the previous decade, there was mostly no other timber income. In the 1960s and 1970s, it enjoyed a huge profit from timber, sometimes as much as 100 million Japanese yen, thanks to increasing demand for utility poles. In the past, the FPC had provided timber for constructing a former community hall to contribute to the community.

The FPC charged 5000 Japanese yen every year as a membership fee. Even with this money, it had a deficit balance due to heavy corporate and fixed asset taxes. The members were spending down the savings that they had earned in the past.

The number of FPC members had decreased from 92 members in 1965 to 23 in 2018. The president told the author that the reason for this was unclear. At the same time, the number of residents in FPC F's community had increased from 120 households several decades ago to more than 600 households recently. This was due to its good accessibility, as people could commute from the community to big cities.

The president said the FPC's management situation was worsening, but the members had no good ideas for breakthroughs. They perceived that having profit-earning activities, either forestry or non-forestry in nature, would be important.

[FPC G]

A large part of the forest of FPC G had been designated as a forest reserve for water cultivation. Its location was near an important source of water for the city.

The number of members had decreased from 92 people in 1975 to 60 in 2018. The president told the author that this decrease may not be due to aging alone: because FPC G had no forestry or non-forestry income, members were charged 10,000 Japanese yen as an annual fee every year, and members who were not willing to pay the fee had withdrawn from the FPC. The money from these fees was used for taxes and administrative costs.

FPC G conducted tending operations, including thinning. It had received subsidies from the prefecture and all operations were entrusted to an FOC using money from the subsidies to pay for it. It also cleaned the walking roads of a nearby natural park, entrusted by the prefecture with a subsidy.

[FPC H]

FPC H was engaged in various management activities. It was the only surveyed FPC to have undertaken a final harvest of timber in recent years, with operations entrusted to an FOC; the profit earned from this operation was several thousand Japanese yen. After the final harvest, the members had wanted to replant cedar and cypress trees; they had little idea of working on broad-leaved forests, such as oak species. The president told the author that if they had been engaged in shiitake mushroom production, which requires oak logs, they might have wanted to replace conifer trees with oak trees. In addition, they had undertaken weeding and thinning operations by themselves. FPC H also received an income from leasing forestland for roads (approximately 750,000 Japanese yen annually).

The number of members had not significantly decreased from 29 people at its inception in 1982 to 26 people in 2018. This was due to its good accessibility to a big city, offering a reasonable distance for commuting. FPC H had no problem paying taxes and continuing its forest management.

[FPC I]

Even though the total area of FPC I's forest was small, it was in coastal areas, thus serving as windbreaks.

FPC I regularly monitored forest-area boundaries, but other than that, it had no tending operations; according to the president, operations were not needed at this phase. There was no income-earning activity: the FPC had sold part of its forest in the past and it drew on the savings earned from these sales to pay taxes. It also charged an annual membership fee of approximately 60,000 Japanese yen; this amount was also used to pay taxes.

Although FPC I's members were attached to their *iriai* forests, they had begun to discuss the possibilities of dissolving the FPC. However, they faced an issue: the number of FPC members (households) was 32, while the number of households in the community was 110. If they dissolved the FPC and became an ANA, all residents in the community would become members of the new ANA. The president told the author that such a change could impose the problems faced by the FPC on other residents; as a result, the members were hesitant to change.
