Osaka Gas to Donate Biologically Diverse Nakaikemi Marsh to Tsuruga City

Osaka Gas Company, a major Japanese city gas supplier, announced that it will donate company-owned property to Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, as of March 31, 2005.

The land (about 80 hectares in size, or 198 acres) was originally acquired for a project to build a storage facility for liquefied natural gas (LNG). Osaka Gas, however, canceled the project and decided to donate the land and facilities in the environmental conservation area called "Nakaikemi," to be "a place for human interaction with nature." The company also plans to contribute 420 million yen (about U.S.$ 4 million) to support the management of the property.

Nakaikemi Marsh is a wetland of 25 hectares (62 acres), surrounded by managed woodlands. It is home to a wide variety of insects such as diving beetles, 70 species of dragon flies and a newly discovered ladybug. Researchers are highly interested in this marsh, a popular "field museum," where people can enjoy observing living things, all the more precious because they are rapidly disappearing in other parts of Japan.

http://www.osakagas.co.jp/Press/english/pr020409.htm

Posted: 2004/07/23 02:05:18 PM
Japanese version