History

History of the Tama Forest Science Garden

The Tama Forest Science Garden was established in February 1921 as an experimental forestry station under the Forestry Management Division of the Ministry of the Imperial Household. It celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2011.

The fine administration building seen in the photograph was completed in the year following the facility’s foundation. The forestry station thereafter undertook experimentation and research on the management of Imperial forests. However, the administration building and most of the laboratories were destroyed in the Hachioji Air Raid of August 1, 1945.

Subsequently, research continued while the facility went through changes of name from “Tama Detached Office” to “Tama Experimental Forest.” The facility was named the “Tama Forest Science Garden” in 1988. It took on its present form on being made open to the public in 1992. The Tama Forest Science Garden is a branch of the General Forest Research Laboratories of the National Research and Development Agency’s Forest Research and Management Organization, which is currently Japan’s largest research body for forests, forestry, and the timber industry. Thus, among other activities, the Science Garden develops the management and applications technology required to fully achieve the multifaceted functions performed by suburban forest, clarifies the various roles to be taken in protecting the diversity of fauna and flora in the ecosystem, and carries out research on the genetic resources of cherry trees.

Moreover, building on the research findings accumulated by the General Forest Research Laboratories, the Science Garden carries out awareness-raising and information activities to deepen the general public’s understanding of forests, forestry, and the timber industry. As well as that, the Science Garden plays a major role as a generator of and forum for research materials produced making use of the Science Garden’s arboreta, experimental forest, Cherry Tree Preservation Forest, and other amenities.

The forest within the Science Garden was under the direct control of the shogunal government during the Edo period (1603–1868). It has been under public management and care as an Imperial forest since the Meiji period (1868–1912). For this reason, there is a little secondary Quercus serrata woodland of trees used for fuelwood. On the contrary, the Science Garden stands out for its abundance of evergreen trees, which are thought to be native to this area, such as the Japanese fir and Castanopsis sieboldii. 

 

Inauguration of the Administrative Building

 

• February 1921: Established as an experimental forestry station under the Forestry Management Division of the Ministry of the Imperial Household
• January 1940: Renamed the Tokyo Experimental Forestry Station, Forestry Management Division of the Ministry of the Imperial Household
• April 1947: Transferred to the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry due to consolidation of forest management and renamed Asakawa Branch Experimental Forestry Site
• July 1957: Renamed Asakawa Experimental Forestry Site Forest
• October 1988: Renamed General Forest Research Laboratory Tama Forest Science Garden
• April 2001: Transferred to the control of Independent Administrative Corporation General Forest Research Laboratory Tama Forest Science Garden
• April 2001: Tama Test Site transferred from original location
• April 2006: Akanuma Test Site transferred from original location
• October 2006: Tama Test Site renamed Renko-ji Experimental Forest, and Akanuma Test Site renamed Akanuma Experimental Forest
• April 2015: Transferred to the control of the Tama Forest Science Garden, General Forest Research Laboratories, Forest Research and Management Organization, National Research and Development Agency
• April 2017: Renamed the Tama Forest Science Garden, General Forest Research Laboratories, Forest Research and Management Organization, National Research and Development Agency