Kushiroshitsugen National Park

Kushiroshitsugen National Park consists of hills surrounding Japan's largest marshland, which embraces the Kushiro River and its tributaries running through eastern Hokkaido. The vast, pristine, level landscape is the most attractive feature of this area. It is also a valuable habitat for many plants and animals, including the red-crowned crane, which is designated as a special natural treasure by the Japanese government. Kushiroshitsugen has been considered useless because it is difficult to cultivate. However, due to postwar food shortages, farmland development, urban development, and hillside logging, the marshland area has decreased and become increasingly arid. In response, local researchers and nature conservation groups continued to campaign for a reevaluation of the marshland's value, and as a result, the marshland was internationally recognized for its value, becoming Japan's first Ramsar wetland in 1980 and designated a national park seven years later. The creation of the first national park centered on a marshland is an event that marked a new milestone in the history of national parks in Japan, as the value of the marshland's natural environment, once called "barren land," was discovered through local activities. (Source: Ministry of the Environment website https://www.env.go.jp/nature/nationalparks/list/)