The Uryu Research Forest is located in the uppermost reaches of the Uryu River in the Ishikari River system and covers an area of approximately 25,000 ha. It is one of the coldest areas in Hokkaido, with a minimum winter temperature of -35? and a maximum snow depth of over 200cm. The northern part of the forest, surrounding Lake Shumarinai, the largest man-made lake in Japan, is a gently sloping andesite-based mountainous area with a diverse forest cover including Quercus serrata forests, wetland red spruce forests, and riparian forests, centered on naturally occurring mixed forests. In the southern part, on the other hand, there are many mountainside slopes composed of serpentinite and metamorphic rocks, and natural forests of red spruce that depend on these geological features are distributed, while secondary forests resulting from forest fires and clear cutting cover a large area. Taking advantage of this location, research is being conducted on water and material cycles on a forested watershed scale and on the development of technologies for reforestation. In addition, long-term monitoring of ecosystems across many related fields is being conducted, and large-scale field manipulation experiments have been initiated in connection with these studies. At the Nayoro Forest Tree Breeding Experiment Station, the breeding of forest trees dealing with tree genetics, the development of technology for breeding seedlings of major tree species to serve as samples for educational research, and various field experiments are being carried out.
