The last activity of Higashikawa Junior Green Club in this year was held on Saturday, October 16th,

Higashikawa town Junior Green Club is composed of the students of middle school students in Higashikawa.

They are engaged in activities to protect the precious local nature such as Asahidake and the Tenninkyo area.

The purpose of today’s activity is for maintaining the trail in Asahidake area and thinking with club members about the use and conservation of nature.

The scheduled maintenance location is Miharashidai course entrance, Miharashi means “viewpoint” and “Observatory”, so it is usually named for a place with a good view.

But entrance of the course has corroded so much that it doesn’t look like before anymore.

On rainy days, water flows down the trails and the soil collapses, causing many complaints from hikers that it is difficult to walk and slippery.

On October 16th, the temperature in the Asahidake hot spring  dropped about minus, but it was sunny and very nice on that day.

Mr. Okazaki, the representative of Hokkaido mountain maintenance, and the mountain guards, prepared the wood and stone sand in advance.

First of all, Mr. Okazaki explained the names of the tools, how to use them, and precautions before the work for members who participate to maintenance for the first time.

Some tools such as chainsaws are dangerous, so we worked with a sufficient safety distance.

When Mr. Okazaki cut the wood, the club members filled the space between the stairs with stones and sand.

Members started with simple tasks and ended up working with difficult tasks.

Despite the activity after a long time, everyone was very excited and active.

<Before>                         <After>

Everyone worked hard, so we finally completed 20 wooden stairs at entrance of Miharashidai course.

The stairs from the past looks like beast trail, but now it became an easy-to-walk stair for climbing and descending.

Using fallen trees and stones at nearby, we have completed a mountain trail that gives consideration to users while minimizing the impact on nature.

We would like to thank all the members of Higashikawa town Junior Green Clubs and

Mr.Okazaki who gave us guidance as a lecturer, and all the members of the Yamamoritai.