Looming bamboo takes over ICU: Interview with Professor Fujinuma part 1

(translated by Maya Willyard)

Hello everyone, this is Yujin Sagishima from the SDGs Promotion Office. ICU campus is known for its rich nature but did you know that bamboos are invading the great forest? In today’s article, we will ask Professor Fujinuma of the Environmental Studies the challenges the ICU bamboo forest faces. Let’s first take a look at what’s going on in ICU’s bamboo forest!

Spreading of Bamboo

First of all, where are the ICU bamboo clumpers on campus? They are all over campus such as the west side of the entire ICU forest, around the faculty housing but the most noticeable next to Taizanso where the bamboo grove is left unmanaged or abandoned. It keeps spreading out of control, forcing its way to expand inside Taizanso. This is just one place where we can easily observe a threat from the spreading of bamboo on campus.

Left picture: Bamboo forest around Taizanso. Outside of Dialogue House on the right.

Right picture: Rope indicating the expansion of the bamboo forest by Taizanso

(photo by Yujin Sagishima)

We can actually support our observation with data that might surprise you. ICU regularly carries out a vegetation survey, as the picture on the left is from the 2018 vegetation survey test result. Looking at the 2012 master plan, it is evident that the bamboo forest territory has been augmented as the vegetation management has not been taken into consideration.

Left Figure: ICU Fauna and Vegetation Map 2018 ver.

Right Figure: Target Vegetation Master Plan 2012 ver.

Although this is a normal speed for bamboo to grow,it has been taking over the area where other vegetation once lived. To make it worse, ICU forest is ready for generational change and restoration as many large trees are drying up. Trees stand in place even a few years after their death, taking up space, eating up nutrients, blocking sunlight, and ultimately preventing new trees from thriving. In other words, there is a danger of losing hardwood trees. While there are some non-native, invasive species in ICU forests, such as Japanese laurel and shrubs, bamboo seems to have a somewhat unique background. Presumably, bamboos were brought in intentionally.

Bamboo was at the Center of People’s Lives

Bamboo on campus has a unique background as it was likely planted, contrary to the cases of invasive non-native species such as Japanese laurel and shrubs. By no means, bamboo was brought in to harm vegetation in Musashino. In fact, bamboo at the time was an indispensable material to craft daily goods when metals were difficult to obtain and expensive. Different kinds of bamboo were managed differently as they served different purposes. Thick, moso bamboo were used to make bowls and buckets, while thin, timber bamboo were suitable to make writing brushes, water bottles, bamboo brooms, and roofs and hedges of homes. Both types of bamboo were known to have been processed into coal in agriculture.

Demand for bamboo, however, has dropped since aluminum was introduced. Aluminum was so cheap and mass-produced easily that it quickly overtook the place of bamboo, which was time consuming to grow and take care of. Interestingly, our shifting from bamboo to aluminum as a core material for kitchen tools has even changed the way we prepare certain foods, too. For example, the cutting surface of Aluminum graters is so fine that it destroys the natural spiciness of daikon radish that can be preserved with hoarse bamboo graters. As a solution to the issue, manufacturers devised graters that can grate both daikon radish and chili peppers together. And, this new food is called, momiji oroshi, meaning grated daikon in autumn leaves color. Isn’t that interesting?

Okay, so going back on topic, bamboo is still in use as a material for coal today. ICU previously made bamboo coal at the campfire area from excess bamboo removed from campus after “thinning,” but with an increasing number of homes nearby, we now need to notify neighbors and the fire department of charring bamboo in advance. Thus, we can say that the requirement gets in our way to freely process bamboo these days.

About ICU’s Bamboo Forest Management

I just talked about the “thinning” of bamboo at ICU’s bamboo clumpers, but ICU does more to control the spreading of bamboo. The bamboo plant naturally likes to fill in the spaces between each other since they are gregarious, but when it gets too close to each other, it grows out. If you recall what I mentioned earlier, “There is no room left for bamboo to grow in the grove next to the Taizanso,” but a regular “thinning” of bamboo under proper management can create room for new bamboo to grow within the grove. The best season for “thinning” is from fall to winter when there are few mosquitoes. ICU removes bamboo that prevents us from walking with an umbrella open and cuts off bamboo shoots in spring for more thinning. Removed bamboo can be piled up on a 90-degree slope to work as a mound to slow soil runoff. Despite our thinning efforts, bamboo still manages to find its way outside its grove. We try our best to cut down excess bamboo outside its grove, but we cannot get our hands on all the bamboo, letting bamboo grow out of control.

Photo: Marking bamboos that are too close to each other and “thinning” the forest (photo taken by SDGs promotion office)

Under these circumstances, we should consider destroying all the bamboo groves to protect the surrounding environment. If we decide to do so, we can’t leave a single stalk of bamboo behind, so the entire bamboo groves must be destroyed, but it’s not easy to do. Bamboo is so resilient underground if its root is still alive it sprouts from there in spring, so every single root must be removed. It ultimately takes around 3 years to dry up nutrients and wipe out bamboo groves. Once bamboo is gone, we can plant sawtooth oak and jolcham oak trees, which will grow and create a Musashino forest.

Picture: Bamboo roots that have made its way to the surface (photo taken by Yujin Sagishima)

Lastly...

How did you like the first half of the article talking about the bamboo forest and the management process? In ICU, anyone can observe the consequences of an abandoned, unmanaged forest. Check out nearby bamboo forests on campus anytime. In the second half of the article, we will discuss how ICU has been managing the bamboo forest, and explore how students can get involved in the issue of our bamboo forest. If you are interested in participating in bamboo management or digging out bamboo shoots, please be sure to check them out. Well, that’s it for now. Thank you for making it this far into the article!