This research elucidates the factors that enable individual forest owners in Austria to conduct active forestry management through detailed comparative study with Japan's Aso region in Kumamoto Prefecture. The structural differences between the two regions are remarkable: Austria's average forest ownership size reaches 20.6 hectares, 2.3 times larger than Aso's 8.9 hectares, and ownership is significantly more consolidated with an average of 2.8 locations compared to Aso's 5.8 locations. More importantly, the average age of owners is 49 years, 21 years younger than Aso's 70 years, enabling smooth succession to the next generation.
In terms of forestry management practices, Austria achieves an extraordinary self-logging rate of 90%, contrasting sharply with Aso where outsourcing to specialized contractors is mainstream (self-logging rate less than 5%). Supporting this high self-logging rate are comprehensive institutional and infrastructure arrangements: ①legal systems maintaining minimum management scale (mechanisms preventing subdivision during inheritance), ②pension system design encouraging land transfer by age 62, ③reduced distribution costs through direct timber sales via forest cooperatives, ④efficient operations through extensive forest road networks (45 meters per 100 hectares) and advanced mechanization, and ⑤free management guidance by forest technicians.
From an economic perspective, Austrian forest owners' income is 4-6 times higher than in Japan, establishing forestry as a sustainable livelihood. This profitability difference stems not merely from timber prices or productivity differences, but from comprehensive differences in social system design surrounding forestry: optimization of ownership structure, planned generational succession, technical support systems enabling self-logging, and efficient distribution systems reducing intermediary margins.
The research implications show that revitalizing Japanese forestry requires not just individual technology introduction or temporary subsidy policies, but comprehensive structural reforms including promotion of forest ownership consolidation, tax and pension system reforms encouraging planned succession to younger generations, and support for self-logging through technical training, machinery introduction support, and distribution reforms. Particularly, maintaining appropriate scale through legal frameworks and institutional promotion of generational succession are positioned as top policy priorities for achieving sustainable forest management. Austria's success demonstrates that appropriate institutional design can stimulate individual forest owners' management motivation and realize vibrant forestry.