Point surf

C-street on a fine winter morning...

It's often hard to imagine that this long period groundswell originated with winter storms blowing off Siberia, over Japan, and into the North Pacific Ocean.

we are all connected

Japan Dam Tour 2008 - part II

The second Case study considered in this year's River Policy Network symposium in Japan was the Akaya Project. The “Akaya Project” is a collaborative project organized by local residents, the Regional office of the national Forestry Agency, and the Nature Conservation Society of Japan. These groups entered into an agreement in order to formalize their collaborative efforts to achieve a sustainable community as well as restoring biodiversity in the adjoining national forests. Officially called the “Biodiversity Restoration Program for Mikuni Mountains and Akaya River,” it is also dubbed the “Akaya Project” because this program covers the tributaries of Tone River and the upper river basin of Akaya River.

The project includes a variety of conservation and restoration components, and includes volunteer and educational opportunities for the public. Their newsletters contain beautiful artwork depicting the local flora and fauna. Making good use of donated buildings, their small headquarters includes rustic sleeping accommodations for work parties and visiting school groups. Some of the Akaya restoration work includes propogating and planting native trees to replace non-native forests, a root cause of much of the ecological disturbance in the planning area.


Forestry practices in Japan include the construction of debris dams, or “sabo dams,” intended to capture sediment eroding from clearcut logging areas. Any visitor to Japan will notice the proliferation of these concrete structures throughout the countryside, even in remote areas where direct property damage is not an issue. This is a byproduct of a huge, and often mis-guided, domestic infrastructure budget.

One component of the Akaya Project is the removal of soil saving dams at Mogurazawa, a tributary of Akaya river. This is probably the first case in which soil saving dams will be removed within national forests, and it is hoped that this will become a new model for forestry management operations in Japan.



Our group hiked through the forest and up the small tributary creek to see firsthand the dam in question. In this case, recent structural damage had undermined the foundation. We crawled through the slot under the dam to see that most of the accumulated sediment had been naturally flushed under the dam. The plan is to remove the central portion of the structure, leaving ‘wings’ on either side. I understood this is intended to help stabilize the streambanks while passing sediment downstream.





At one point I was asked if I had any ideas for ‘ecotourism’ development in the area. The hotspring resorts already draw Japanese tourists, but there are other users of the hotsprings in the winter. Having seen a National Geographic magazine several years ago, I was interested to hear that "Japanese snow monkeys" visit Akaya's natural hotsprings in the winter. Although the Japanese seem accustomed to monkeys, I suggested that monkeys enjoying a hot bath could be a big draw for foreign tourists.

Location: the northern area of Niiharu, Minakami-Cyo(former Niiharu Village), Gunma Pref.

▽Akaya Project（Nature Conservation Society of Japan) http://www.nacsj.or.jp/akaya/index.html

▽Akaya Project（Kanoto Regional Forest Office）http://www.kanto.kokuyurin.go.jp/akaya/akayaproject/

▽Houshi Hot Spring Resort Cyoujyukan http://www.houshi-onsen.jp/

▽Kawafuru Hot Spring Resort Hamaya Ryokan http://www3.kannet.ne.jp/~kawafuru/

Japan Dam Tour 2008 - part I

September 9-16, 2008

I was invited to participate in a dam policy and field tour sponsored by River Policy Network, Japan (RPN). This was my 3rd trip to Japan to share the experience gained from the Matilija Dam Ecosystem Restoration Project. Over the past several years, RPN has done a great job of bringing scientists, engineers, local and federal government, and community representatives together in these forums on dam management. (I participated in a similar forum in 2005)

The focus of the program was management of aging dams, and included two symposiums (Osaka and Nagoya) and two field trips. Japan has many dams, large and small, which are experiencing typical sedimentation, structural aging, and environmental impacts. The case of Matilija Dam was presented alongside Yahagi Dam and the Akaya Project in Japan. Other presenters elaborated on the impacts of sedimentation on Japan's reservoirs and other environmental effects.

Yahagi Dam is the main dam of several on the Yahagi River, which drains into the bay near Nagoya, Japan. Nagoya is one of the industrial centers of Japan, home to Toyota's global headquarters and several manufacturing plants. The dam operators cite that Yahagi Dam provides over 1.3 million kWh of hydroelectricity, enough to power all of Toyota's manufacturing in the area.


Construction of the 100m high dam was completed in 1971 at a cost of 14.5 billion yen (around $145 million.) Sedimentation has occurred faster than predicted, and today the reservoir is 40% filled with over 15 million cubic meters of sand. This has reduced the length of the reservoir from 8km to 4km, reduced flood control capacity, impacted water quality, and degraded downstream fish habitat for a historic and existing commercial fishery, as well as posed a threat to future energy generation capacity.









In an effort to offset the loss of reservoir capacity, Yahagi Dam managers have been dredging the reservoir and trucking sand downstream. In one project, 60,000cu.m was transported by truck 96km to the bay, where the new land formed by the sediment deposit was turned into a park. This was very expensive, costing approximately $100/cu.m. Another project trucked sand to a location within the floodplain downstream, where it eroded away during a flood helping to restore river habitat. A project is also underway to truck sand to the bay in an attempt to revive a commercial clam fishery that has been lost due to the shortage of sand in the system.


The more permanent solution being considered is a tunnel that will bypass sand from the upstream reservoir delta to the river downstream. The tunnel would be almost 9km long, and would require careful engineering to provide adequate sediment transport at the right time.



Perhaps most significant about the Yahagi River is that it has become a case study of citizen-based action to protect local resources and partially mitigate the impacts of dams. Beginning in 1969, local fisheries and farming cooperatives organized to solve water quality issues in the watershed. The Yahagi River Basin Water Quality Preservation Association (YWPA) includes agrarian, fishery and local municipalities. In recent years, local fishermen have been instrumental in working with dam managers to improve downstream flows, water quality, and sediment management for downstream fisheries. This is a significant first in a country where complete de-watering of rivers downstream of major dams is common. (Water is often diverted through elaborate hyroelectric and transbasin schemes.) It was a privilege to meet two of the leaders of the Yahagi River Fishery Cooperative.



In addition to environmental flows, dam managers, working with the local fishermen, developed a silt 'curtain' to eliminate high turbidity water from the intake structure. This has been effective in preventing fine silt from smothering downstream spawning gravels, resulting in increased fish populations.







The most dramatic problem at Yahagi Dam is the influx of millions of trees during a large flood event. This is in large part due to forestry practices in Japan after WWII, and the resulting instability of the steep mountain slopes from the non-native timber. The solution in this case was to start a charcoal production business, creating an economic means to clear the reservoir.





Here the tour group is pictured at the charcoal kilns upstream of Yahagi Dam.


...continued in Part II

DNA and social networks

In 2005 I visited Japan as a 'dam removal ambassador' to transmit knowledge gained from the Matilija Dam project. My gracious hosts from River Policy Network provided many opportunities to meet others and speak about ecosystem restoration.

Toward the end of the trip, one of my new friends said he had a gift for me. But first he had to explain. Since I understand no Japanese whatsoever, and his English is limited, he started drawing on a napkin. After much hand waving I recognized his sketch as a virus, and understood him to be describing viral replication, which involves synthesis of viral DNA. Hmmmm.



He then handed me this. He went on to tell me that on his trip to Matilija Dam the previous year he had collected a piece of concrete from the crumbling structure. The 'virus' in the test tube was created using this 'DNA.' Recognizing Matilija Dam to be one of the world's first large dam removal efforts, he has made many of these to present to each of the dam removal activists he encounters.

WOW. Dam removal DNA. A disease? Or an idea to be replicated?







Social scientists have developed tools to describe this. A social network map shows the connections that exist between people and/or organizations (nodes.) Network maps are a way of making visible and understanding relationships that are often otherwise invisible. The maps can show important features of the network that can be acted upon to leverage the network to produce better outcomes in the community.

At a West Coast Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Network meeting this year, a social network diagram was presented based upon an on-line survey that each participant had completed. Looking at the beginnings of a social network model for EBM I could envision my connections within the small community of awareness that is evolving within the Ventura River watershed, and the growing network of links that literally reach around the world.




Jim Moriarty often speaks of DNA. And this idea was wonderfully communicated in What the BLEEP Do We Know
Here's one way of viewing it: as each of us 'infects' others with this 'DNA' we begin to build a critical mass. This increase in social awareness is the bare minimum that will be required to implement real-world changes to restore the global ecosystems upon which we depend for survival.

As my gift from Japan demonstrates, despite cultural and language barriers, our DNA, our social network, reaches around the globe.