Saturday, March 24, 2018

A Tale of A Tokyo-salamanders’ Sanctuary


In old days when people lived around nature, mountains and forests adjoining farm and villages were used as resources for materials such as wood and bamboo, water for rice paddies, and wild vegetables and fruits. These areas were regularly maintained by the locals, taking care of trails, waterways and pruning trees. As a result, semi-nature areas which were different from complete wildness appeared. Many local elders say there were tons of tadpoles in spring, countless fireflies in summer, gorgeous coloring foliage with wild fruits and nuts in autumn, so the semi-nature areas were their favorite playgrounds in their childhood―
Recently people started to call these areas “Satoyama”, and it is receiving attention in terms of nature preservation. However, now people’s life styles have changed a lot. Therefore, many of former Satoyama-areas have been neglected for years.
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Over the many hills in Hachioji, which is located in the western edge of Tokyo, there is a hidden Satoyama field that looks just like a traditional semi-nature area in old yore. A man, who is mainly supervising the field, retired more than a decade ago, and got an idea to work on an abandoned rice field near his house to get back a beautiful view of Satoyama just like old days. He got a permission from local land owners, then started to maintain 2000 m2 (22 thousand ft2) of land.

 He irrigated the dried “Yato” (a local word for small valleys often used as water sources for rice paddies in old times) and made a tiny rice paddy. After water came back to the field, it kept overflowing the rice paddy and was absorbed into the field gradually over the years. The natural water flow re-created tiny creeks, ponds, wet land, and dry land in the field, then slowly aquatic life and aquatic plants came back to the diverse surroundings. He watched it over for years as he maintained the water flow and plants’ growth.
Today, there are tons of snails in the water and they are good food for firefly larvae and therefore the field is now known as the best local spot to see glows of fireflies in summer. Many kinds of flogs lay eggs in spring and tadpoles fill the small ponds for a while. Various creatures come to eat them then it brings more biodiversity to the field. What’s more, habitats for Tokyo Salamanders (photo on the next page), which is designated as an endangered species by the Ministry of the Environment, have been recovered here, and hundreds of them come to the ponds to lay eggs.

 The man says “I just maintain the area a little. Well, it actually took many years initially to understand what kind of condition they prefer. Now I occasionally adjust the water flow and mostly I enjoy watching them.”

 Tokyo salamander is an amphibian, so they came out of the ponds and leave to hills after they grew up. However, they remember the water they were born and come back to the home-water when they lay eggs just like salmons. They are very sensitive with the condition of water when laying eggs so that ponds in well-preserved nature is essential to make them increase their number. Since many of them come back to this Satoyama field every year it proves that this place is providing very safe spawning ponds to them. On the other hand, the numbers of salamanders are in decline in many of other Tokyo salamanders’ habitats in Hachioji.

 Although there are more endangered creatures and plants can be seen here, the man said with a smile “I don’t think this location is special. If you have an eye you may be able to find same rare creatures and plants, which people thought they were gone, in some other local spots. Because they are native to this area and spontaneously recovered the numbers here.”
However, managing of the area by checking each plant or maintaining optimal conditions for many creatures are clearly not easy. Hard and steady work and observations, great affections and curiosity for wild life and plants keep this Satoyama beautiful…

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