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Environmental Deterioration Resulting from Ski-resort Construction in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Shiro Tsuyuzaki
Shiro Tsuyuzaki
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata 950-21, Japan.
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Extract

Ski slopes are commonly established following clearcutting of areas of well-developed forests, scraping off the surface soil, and seeding the entire ground-surface, as forests widely remain in mountainous regions where skiing is developed in Japan. The ski slopes are then sown with seeds of exotic plants in an attempt to prevent soil erosion. However, many bare areas remain, or develop, on ski slopes. Due to this landscape fragmentation, not only deterioration of Nature but also environmental problems develop, including those of water, garbage, and traffic, pollution.

The ski-resort concentration occurs mainly in regions of high-quality landscape around urbanized areas, and derives mostly from economic benefits. Yet any regulation of ski-resort construction has unfortunately been delayed. Areas where ski-resorts have been concentrated have a high risk of damage, and further studies of the situation are overdue. We should reconsider the construction, enlargement, and distribution patterns, of skiresorts, and any further development should be based on sound ecological and conservational knowledge rather than mere transient economic considerations.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , Summer 1994 , pp. 121 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1994

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