The management of riparian management zones in Japan: Suggestions based on the rmz of the FSC-certified forests

Abstract

Recently, the importance of RMZ has been recognized. However, systematized management methods for RMZ haven't been established in Japan. We distributed the questionnaire to 24 forests that had obtained FSC certification, and 17 responses were received. In the questionnaire, respondents were asked about their RMZ. Most of them first developed RMZ at the time when they got certification, following the advices from their respective certification body and based on their own experiences. Many forests set 10 m or less wide RMZ along permanent streams, but the breadth was much narrower compared to overseas cases. Many forest managers intended to intergrade current conifer plantation into broad leaf forests and cared not to leave remainder materials within the RMZ. Although many respondents answered the desired effects have been achieved as a result of setting RMZ, nearly half of them also recognized the need for improvement in terms of scale or operation. It is necessary to accumulate more data and wide-ranging discussion in order to establish the appropriate RMZ. Considering its flexibility enough to respond to each forest situation or to management purposes, FPC is seemed to be an effective option of RMZ guideline.