**3.3.1 Description**

The cooperative was founded in 1968. The total area of forest is large at approximately 2,500 ha, including approximately 200 ha of planted forest33. The remaining area is covered by natural forest including secondary broadleaved forest that had been used for the production of fuel-wood or charcoal for a long period of time. When the cooperative was founded, a profit-sharing reforestation program was introduced to plant coniferous trees. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Forestry Agency and the prefectural government promoted the establishment of this type of forest producer cooperatives.
