Since the start of the project in 1998, approximately 30,000 saplings of indigenous trees have been planted. Also, a total of more than 12,000 volunteers have participated in the tree planting and cultivation activities conducted in the forest.

We completed the reforestation efforts in the typhoon-damaged forest by removing tree shelter tubes. Then, in fiscal 2019, we started a survey of trees as an integral part of forest management activities. In 2025—which was the seventh year of this tree survey—approximately 105 volunteers took part in creating a database of the records of 460 trees planted in an area of approximately 1,800 m2.

Through the visualization of the growth of trees planted by volunteers, the Manabi no Mori Project will shift to a project in which participants can learn about the forest in closer contact with it. Based on the recognition that cultivating a forest is a long-term commitment, we launched the Mt. Fuji Manabi no Mori Project as a 100-year initiative. To ensure that the project will still be underway 100 years from now, we will continue to conduct comprehensive forest management and environmental activities as a way to communicate the importance of nature to as many people as possible.

Sumitomo Forestry has been implementing an environmental education program for local elementary and junior high school students since fiscal 2006 in collaboration with the NPO Whole Earth Institute (currently Whole Earth Nature School). Activities include nature observation, looking for tracks and traces of wild animals, and games played by using the five senses. These activities are conducted for the rediscovery of the natural world and for students to learn about the importance of nature and consider new ways in which people can coexist with nature in the future. In fiscal 2025, a total of 861 students and children from 13 schools were invited to the program. A cumulative total of more than 16,000 students and children have been invited as of fiscal 2025.

Sumitomo Forestry entered into a partnership agreement for the restoration of local communities with Higashi Matsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture in 2012, following the Great East Japan Earthquake. The company is making every effort to contribute to the restoration. Higashi Matsushima City aims to revitalize tourism by restoring the wetland located in the Suzaki district near the Nobiru coast, which was devastated by the tsunami. To support this activity, Sumitomo Forestry began a tree planting activity on a trial basis in fiscal 2017. As a soil investigation revealed a high concentration of acidity, we conducted examinations to select appropriate tree species and planting methods. We then formulated a tree-planting plan that took into account third-party insight received from the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute.

We confirmed that the seedlings had been growing steadily with the support of the local community. We then launched the Oku Matsushima Nature Recovery Volunteer activity along the Nobiru coast of Higashi Matsushima City in fiscal 2019.

In 2025, a total of 170 people participated in the tree planting activity. Local residents, children from Higashi-Matsushima Municipal Miyanomori Elementary School, Sumitomo Forestry’s subcontractors, and Sumitomo Forestry Group employees worked together to plant 512 plants from four local indigenous species. In addition to tree planting, participants in this volunteer activity cleared the underbrush so that the seedlings in the planted area would grow to a large size. We also provided environmental education to third-year students of Miyanomori Elementary School. This included encouraging them to grow the seeds of indigenous plant Raphiolepis umbellata at home until they become seedlings. Furthermore, in 2025, we launched a survey on the growth and survival rates of the seedlings that third graders of Naruse Mirai Junior High School planted in 2019. In this way, we are conducting restoration activities with local communities on a medium- to long-term basis.

In October 2021, Sumitomo Forestry launched the "morino de van“ comprehensive forest education project in collaboration with the Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture (morinos*). In this project, Sumitomo Forestry gives on-site classes on forests by using a “Wald-car.”

In May 2025, we participated in Plaza to Make the Earth Smile, which was hosted by Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. Held on the theme of “Let’s find something you can get absorbed in!,” this initiative was intended to provide participants with a learning opportunity and hands-on experience to find ways to create a better future for everyone. At this event, Sumitomo Forestry conducted a program designed mainly for children who have limited opportunities to interact with nature in their daily lives. It featured Barefoot Trail, in which participants walked barefoot on wood and sand, and Touch and Feel Museum, in which they could touch taxidermy animals. In the Knock Knock Knock portion of the event, children could choose what they wanted to make by using tools such as hammers, saws, and nails on material from Takara no Yama, a pile of wood chips (scrap wood). We hope that the program provided participants with an opportunity to think about what they can do to protect the nature for a better future.

By continuing to provide nature experience programs, we aim to create a harmonious, symbiotic society for people and forests.

*Nickname of the Forestry Education Center within the Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture. Its purpose is to connect all people with forests and pass on the joy of living with forests and the richness of forest culture to the next generation.

Shiseido Co., Ltd., has a brand named “BAUM,” which features the theme of “coexistence with trees.” It is engaged in efforts to recycle forest resources based on the brand philosophy of “not only receiving the blessings of trees, but also returning them to nature.”

Sumitomo Forestry has been supporting the activities since June 2020, when the brand was launched, specifically by supplying seedlings to BAUM stores, helping the stores grow seedlings for future planting, and providing cosmetic materials for the brand.

At the BAUM Oak Forest in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, seedlings of oak (mizunara) are planted for use in the wooden parts of the BAUM cosmetic packages. This initiative contributes to the circular use of forest resources. For the planting activity, seedlings of these oaks are grown at BAUM stores and further cultivated at our Motoyama Tree Nursery Center until they reach a suitable size for planting. A total of 600 seedlings were planted in the tree planting activity conducted in 2025, in which employees of the Housing Division participated as supporters for the brand activity.

We also support the brand activity at BAUM Hinoki Forest, which was established within a public forest in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture, based on a tripartite agreement signed in January 2024 between Shiseido, Niihama City in Ehime Prefecture, and Sumitomo Forestry.

In the BAUM Hinoki Forest, Sumitomo Forestry supports the brand’s efforts by producing, maintaining, and nurturing hinoki seedlings grown at BAUM stores. We also supply chips from Japanese cypress trees grown in Shikoku for use in skincare products.

Niihama City, in which the Besshi Copper Mine is located, is the Sumitomo Forestry Group’s place of origin. The tree-planting activity is planned to be carried out for ten years starting from 2024. Each year, during the period, approximately 600 hinoki seedlings will be planted after being grown at BAUM stores and then further cultivated at the Motoyama Tree Nursery Center.

The Kanagawa SDGs Partner program is a program to encourage cooperation between the prefecture and corporations and other entities working to achieve the SDGs in the prefecture. Sumitomo Forestry was registered as a Kanagawa SDGs Partner in April 2020. As a company registered under the program, we are working to spread the ZEH concept to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to curb climate change, revitalize the economy and raise people’s environmental awareness.