Mass erosion and forest management

Abstract

In Japan, landslides are such a major national hazard that in 1958 the ""Landslide Prevention Law"" was passed and an extensive program for research, engineering, and control of landslides has developed. There is no comparable legislative mandate in the United States. Contrary to the situation in Japan where lives and property are jeopardized by landslides, in the U.S. the main concern for controlling landslides is to preserve water quality and timber site productivity. In late summer 1981, a team of six U.S. scientists spent two weeks in Japan under the auspices of the U.S./Japan Science and Technology Exchange Program. Three of the scientists, W. F, Megahan, D. A. Sangrey, and D. N. Swanston studied the Japanese work on landslide, groundwater, and erosion problems. These visiting U.S. scientists were very impressed with the quality and scale of work being conducted by Japanese scientists. In their technical report, they made specific recommendations for future U.S./Japan exchanges of individual scientists and engineers concerned with landsliding

Citation

Ziemer, R. R.; Thomas, B. R.; Rice, R. M. 1982. Mass erosion and forest management. Presented at Ninth Meeting, U.S./Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources, Panel on Forestry, 6-13 June 1982, Tokyo, Japan. 10 p.