5. Shirakami Mountains: Old-Growth Forests of Siebold’s Beech Supporting Biodiversity in a Dynamic Landscape

This chapter analyzes the Shirakami Mountains World Heritage Site as a complex natural heritage based on distinctive geological, geomorphological, and ecological components and their mutual interactions. The property was inscribed onto the World Heritage List (Natural) in 1993, becoming one of the initial entrants from Japan. Fagus crenata dominates the crown cover of an old-growth forest here; the area is also noted for a rich diversity of flora and as the habitat of several large mammals, a large number of bird species, and a variety of fish in the rivers. Shirakami is a particularly excellent example of a dynamic heritage landscape that is shaped by rapid uplift, erosion, and heavy precipitation. Although currently protected under the World Heritage convention and several national and local level statutes, the forest came to the brink of serious exploitation in the 1980s when a plan to log off the old-growth beech surfaced, leading to citizen protests, nature conservation advocacy, and the eventual registration of the area as a World Heritage. Issues of landscape level fragmentation due to anthropogenic change and Global Environmental Change add to current issues, especially at the peripheral areas adjacent to the heritage property. The chapter concludes that attention should be paid to geological, geological, and ecological connectivity in order to protect the integrity of this important natural heritage.