Where water flows quietly down from its source and finally comes to rest — that is the wetland that spreads across the heart of Koajiro Forest. Here, the very…
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Where water flows quietly down from its source and finally comes to rest — that is the wetland that spreads across the heart of
Koajiro Forest. Here, the very ground is saturated with water, so soft and sodden that a single step would sink into it.
And yet, in this waterlogged earth, one tree stands firm, its roots reaching deep. The
Japanese alder. Most trees shun soil that floods with every rainfall — but this tree grows straight and true, as though it has always known that this place belongs to it. It is a tree that has chosen to make its life alongside land that lies beneath the water. That is the alder.
Sadly, the alder forest that stretches across the middle reaches of Koajiro now faces a crisis: whether the next generation can take root and renew itself, as the climate grows drier. In step with the broader trends of climate change, the mean annual temperature of the Miura Peninsula continues to rise. As it does, rainfall does not increase — yet evapotranspiration grows, and the flooded wetlands that once sustained the alders slowly dry out. The alder forest that spreads today through the valley of Koajiro may, in the end, become the last alder forest that the ever-changing
watershed ecosystem of Koajiro will ever record.
Location: The central wetland of the middle reaches of Koajiro
Subject:
Japanese alder — a tree adapted to stand upright in wetlands that flood with rainfall
Highlight: An alder forest rooted in waterlogged ground
Challenge: Drying conditions driven by climate change now threaten the regeneration of the next generation
Related:
Watershed ecosystem
Address: Koajiro, Misaki-cho, Miura City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Map:
Koajiro Forest Map
Official Site:
Koajiro Forest (Kanagawa Prefecture)
Supervising editor: Yuji Kishi (Professor Emeritus, Keio University)
Photography: Hiroichi Yanase (Professor, Institute of Science Tokyo)
Producer:
Eisuke Tachikawa (Representative of
NOSIGNER / Project Professor, Keio University)
Published by:
NOSIGNER / NPO Koajiro Outdoor Activity Coordination Council
