Minakami Forest Industry

About 90 percent of Minakami's land is forested, and much of the privately owned portion is old-growth deciduous forest that has gone untended as residents switched from wood-burning stoves to electric appliances. Without regular thinning, forests become dark and dense, reducing food and habitat for small animals, eroding topsoil, and increasing landslide risk. Since 2016, Minakami has been training local residents in basic small-scale logging to revive the kind of low-impact forest management practiced before modern technology. The goal is to restore healthy forest structure while keeping the land in the hands of the people who live here.