LINE 171 Protection of Endangered Species "Japanese Rosy Bitterling" and Restoration of Satoyama (Village Forests)

As part of the biodiversity conservation activities, NTT West Nara Group has been providing support since 2011 to the protection of Japanese rosy bitterling, an endangered species, as well as the restoration of satoyama (village forests) around the pond where the fish inhabits. These activities are conducted by the Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University in the school campus.

The first round of the activity for this year, a total of about 30 people, including employees and family members of NTT West Nara Group as well as students of Kindai University, engaged in rice planting and also maintenance of the environment such as trimming of the plants around the pond.

The event kicked off with a briefing on the objectives of the activity by Associate Professor Kitagawa (Environmental Management Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University), followed by a tour to the mini satoyama aquarium run by the students. Although the aquarium was small in scale, the participating children stared intriguingly at the fish tanks and got really excited when they touched the turtles. They also listened attentively whenever Associate Professor Kitagawa started to explain the different types of fish.

After touring the aquarium, the participants were divided into two groups to carry out rice planting and plant trimming respectively. Rice planting was done mainly by the participating children under the guidance of the university students. They divided the field using ropes for young rice plants to be planted at an equal distance of 30cm away from one another. The children had a lot of fun at the planting activity despite getting muddy.
The rice plants planted by the children formed crooked lines instead of straight ones while some were tipping sideways as they were not planted deep enough. Nonetheless, the plants will still grow without problem according to the professor.

Trimming of grass and plants was carried out mainly by the male participants. According to the associate professor, wild boars do not seem to step foot into areas that are well maintained. So, in order to protect the satoyama, the participants were assigned to either trim grass and plants with a height of 50cm using a sickle, or cut those that were close to 2m (kuma bamboo grass, etc.) using one of the four grass cutters.

Thanks to the hard work of the participants who worked up a sweat under the very humid and hot weather, the area was drastically transformed into a clean place in about two hours. Also, light was able to penetrate through to brighten up the areas around the pond, which was dark prior to the activity, and participants felt refreshed upon seeing the transformation.
We believe that this activity has offered a valuable experience to children who rarely have the opportunity to interact with nature in their everyday life.

The main activities that are scheduled include scarecrow making in August and rice harvesting in October. NTT West Nara Group will continue to engage in the "Protection of Endangered Species Japanese Rosy Bitterling and Restoration of Satoyama (Village Forests)" activity in future, and we look forward to the participation of many employees and their family.

Organizing company

NTT West Nara Branch
NTT Fieldtechno Kansai Branch (Planning and General Affairs Department; Equipment Department)
NTT Neomeit Kansai Branch (Network Department)
NTT Business Solutions Kansai Branch (Corporate Sales Department; Hyogo 2nd Corporate Sales Department; Nara Corporate Sales Department)
NTT Business Associe West Kansai Branch (Planning Department; Osaka Office; Nara Office)

Secretariat

NTT Business Associe West Kansai Branch, Nara Office, General Affairs IC

Venue

Inside the premises of Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University (Nara Prefecture, Nara City)

No. of participants

30