About KAMIYAMA SHIZQ Project

SHIZQ is a nature conservation project based in Kamiyama, Tokushima.
Kamiyama looks like a beautiful land with lush mountains.
However, the mountains are planted forests and have environmental problems.

The mountains used to be natural forests, where large and various trees grew.
The sunlight used to pour down on the ground, and the grass was growing.
The surface of the mountains had soft soil containing leaves and grass and a lot of water.
The mountains stored groundwater and sent water to the river.

However, during world war 2 in the pacific, trees were cut down for building materials and fuel, and many mountains became bald mountains.

After the war, many subsidies were provided for tree planting to secure trees for industrial needs.
Many young trees were planted in the mountains.
Since cedar grows quickly and can be used as a building material for housing, Bald Mountains have transformed into a planted forest of cedar.

But free trade began, and a large amount of cheap imported timber became available on the market, and the market value of cedar declined.
The demand for Japanese cedar has decreased, and no one cut the trees in the mountains.

The planted forest of cedar was abandoned.
Since trees are planted in close proximity in the forest, the sunlight does not reach the ground without pruning and thinning.

No grass grows on the ground, the soil becomes hard, and even if it rains, it does not suck in water.
The loss of water retention in the mountains has reduced water being sent to the river.
In Kamiyama, It rains about 2,000 mm a year but the water in the Akui River that flows through the town has decreased to 30% compared to 30 years ago.

A designer who moved from Osaka to Kamiyama, Kiyoharu Hirose about earned this situation and made some suggestions to the people of Kamiyama, that is, "Let's cut cedar to protect the water of the river and think about new ways to use cedar."
Then, they started to make and sell cedar products and use them as firewood.
They are developing investment and sales for the products one by one. 
Since shizq means drop in japanese they want to leave as many drops as possible in the future for their children.

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