Employees Volunteer to Divide Japanese Pampas Grass Root Clumps in the Woodlands of Hitachi High-Tech Science as Part of Our Action to Protect Biodiversity

We are engaged in action to protect biodiversity by restoring a plantation of Japanese cedar and hinoki cypress in the Woodlands of Hitachi High-Tech Science (in the grounds of the Hitachi High-Tech Science Fuji Oyama Works in Sunto, Shizuoka Prefecture). The aim is to recreate a more wildlife friendly habitat in the form of a managed natural environment known in Japanese as satoyama.

As part of this action, since 2016 we have been moving forward with a five year project to transform part of the lawn area into a semi-natural Japanese pampas grass meadow and create a favorable environment for indigenous plants and wildlife. Accordingly, on Wednesday July 15, volunteers from the Hitachi High-Tech Science workforce divided Japanese pampas grass root clumps, a task that is carried out each year.

This task is usually performed in April, but it was postponed until July due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and we also reduced the number of participants. The root clumps had already been dug up and the holes to plant the divided shoots excavated in advance, enabling the eight volunteers on the day to transplant 130 Japanese pampas grass shoots in the roughly 200 m² area.

Although we assume that Covid-19 will continue to affect us all, we intend to continue as far as possible with our action to restore the natural environment in the Woodlands of Hitachi High-Tech Science.