Cape Erimo Grassland Restoration Story was added to Your Favorites!
Hidakasanmyaku Erimo Tokachi NP, Hokkaido
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After 3 years of trials, beach-cast “gota” seaweed became a natural seed blanket: it held seeds against the wind and fed the poor soil. Buying it through the fishing cooperative also brought cash to local fishers.
Before restoration, fierce winds carried red soil as far as 10 km offshore, turning the water yellow. Kelp rotted and fish declined; at home, dust slipped inside even when doors and windows were shut.
Erimo’s “desert” was not a natural desert. After settlement expanded in the Meiji era, broadleaf trees were cut for fuel and livestock grazed the land; once the forest was gone, the cape’s fierce winds stripped the soil.
By the end of fiscal 2009, 183 ha of forest had formed within the 192-ha restoration area. The resulting coastal shelter forest extends about 10 km—a landscape-scale repair built over decades.
The tree that proved best suited to the harsh site was kuromatsu, or Japanese black pine—a species not native to Hokkaido. By fiscal 2011, 1.25 million had been planted; the longer-term goal is a forest dominated by broadleaf trees.
Rectangular windbreaks left troublesome gusts in the middle, so foresters tried hexagonal fences instead. Made from thinned larch, they shield seedlings from wind and catch snow to help protect the soil from freezing.
Early tree planting struggled, so crews first focused on getting grass to grow. By 1970, grass cover had been established across the planned 192 ha; large-scale tree planting resumed the following year.
At a 2023 planting ceremony marking 70 years of restoration, about 600 people—including roughly 350 children from Erimo and neighboring towns—planted 1,200 black pines. The long project is still being handed to a new generation.
