Analyzing vegetation recovery and erosion status after a large Landslide at Mt. Hakusan, Central Japan

A large-scale landslide occurred in 2015 in Senninvalley, Mt. Hakusan, Central Japan, releasing large amounts of sediment. To mitigate continuous erosion in the landslide area and its downstream adverse effects, reforestation activities were implemented from 2016 to 2021. This study assessed the status of vegetation recovery and erosion condition after 7 years using aerial photographs, light detection and ranging data, satellite imagery, and published documents. The results show that the greenery (herbaceous and woody plants) is mainly recovering on the upper slope of the landslide area where reforestation works were implemented, while the lower slope, where no reforestation activities have been applied, still lacks greenery. The lower slope suffered nearly 1-4 m of continued erosion from 2016 to 2022, while upper slope has no significant erosion. Within this 7-year period, the vegetation coverage on the upper slope of the landslide, where artificial restoration was applied, increased significantly from 10 to 43%.

Automated summary

This study assessed the vegetation recovery and erosion condition in a landslide area in central Japan. The results show that the upper slope, where reforestation activities were implemented, has seen significant vegetation recovery and no significant erosion, while the lower slope lacks vegetation and has experienced continued erosion.