**3.3.3 New activity and background**

With only two people remaining in the community, the cooperative cannot move ownership to a residents' association. As two people can do very little, the cooperative, a large part of the membership of which are now living in a neighboring community, is attempting to revive local interest in exploiting the forest for a wide range of activities. In the annual meeting of the cooperative in 2005, various important problems were discussed, including how to improve degraded forest resources, protect the natural environment, address a problem of illegal dumping, enhance the low morale of mountain climbers, spark community regeneration and activation, and further utilize forest resources (Kuniyoshi, 2008). The group ultimately decided to develop ecotourism in their forest.

The cooperative set up an organization, together with community members, which included previous community members, the staff and students in an architectural course at a local private college, a local private railway company, a non-profit organization related to the mountains, and individuals, and they are actively recruiting sponsors and volunteers (Kuniyoshi, 2008). Various ecoprojects are now in progress (Kuniyoshi, 2008). The organization helps to maintain trails in Hakusan National Park, with the aim of running ecotourism project there as well. Many tours are already available, and some hunting is allowed. Some old traditional houses are being renovated with help from college staff and students. These renovated houses are expected to become major ecotourism draws. The renovations are also viewed as a starting point for community regeneration. Restoration of the local waterway is also being conducted as part of landscape management. A teagrowing area has been introduced into an abandoned cultivation area, which is also expected to be a major attraction for ecotourists in the future.

It is interesting that the cooperative clearly identified the development of ecotourism as their main forest-management goal, given that ecotourism has never before been a major objective of a forest producer cooperative34.
