Professor Hiroshi Hakoyama attended the River Environment Conservation Monitor Conference and conducted a site inspection of the Chikuma River!

On the afternoon of August 21, 2023, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Chikuma River Office held a river environment conservation monitor conference and site inspection, and Professor Hiroshi Hakoyama of the Institute of Freshwater Biology attended as a river monitor committee member. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is promoting river basin flood control that takes into account the natural environment, and the river environment conservation monitor conference is a meeting where expert committee members (river monitors) express their opinions on the project from the perspective of biological conservation. Professor Hakoyama attended this conference as a river environment conservation monitor (ecology) and contributes to the issues of regional river basin management. During the meeting, the participants inspected the river channel excavation site and the proposed site for the Hanyu Reservoir as part of the Emergency Flood Control Project, and held a monitoring meeting at the Tokura Branch Office of the Chikuma River Office in Chikuma City. At the meeting, recommendations were made for the Nature Restoration Project, not only for the restoration of the gravel riverbed, but also for projects aimed at preserving symbolic umbrella species of the region, such as the kingfisher. There was also discussion about providing the reservoir with ecosystem conservation functions such as wetlands and ponds.

Fig. 1 River channel excavation site Fig. 2 Nagaimo River in Matsushiro. The riverbed is used as a field Fig. 3 Proposed reservoir site (Hanyu) Fig. 4 Near the proposed reservoir site (Hanyu)