With oak and fir as the dominant species, a variety of trees intermingle in the mixed forests of Shiretoko.
In autumn the mixed forests provide a rich bounty of fruits and nuts, a gift from nature to the wildlife preparing for a long winter.
The rich forests of Shiretoko support a diversity of wildlife.
Jutting into the Sea of Okhotsk, the Shiretoko peninsula is shaped by severe weather. The alpine zone begins at only 400 meters elevation, with stone pine forming the base of a unique plant community. Snowfields give rise to a beautiful array of wildflowers.
Steep slopes and sheer cliffs of the Shiretoko mountain range protected old growth forests from development. The deep forests that were home to the kamui, the gods of the indigenous Ainu, have become rare on Hokkaido. This towering oak has watched wildlife and people come and go for hundreds of years. Coniferous forests dominated by fir and spruce, or mixed forests of oak and kalopanax are typical in Shiretoko.
Exposed to sever seasonal winds, the shiretoko Peninsula is covered in broad swaths of sub-alpine vegetation, where stone pine zones begin at elevations of only 400 meters. The photo above reveals the vertical forest type distribution of Mt. Iou. The red area at the base is mixed hardwood-conifer forest, the leafless brown area, in the mid-slopes is birch, and the deep green higher elevations stone pine.
The streams of the Shiretoko peninsula are home to mostly salmonids. This region is renowned for supporting freshwater fish that depend on pristine conditions. Only two species, the Cherry salmon and Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma), spend their full year in freshwater, but in fall both Pink and Chum salmon return to streams by the thousands to spawn.
An abundance of salmonids returns to Shiretoko, and native spawning runs still persist in many streams. The young that follow streams to the sea spend years maturing in the Pacific Ocean, then return to their birth place bringing gifts for the brown bears, fish owls and other creatures of the forest.
And Shiretoko are the domain of the Dolly Varden. In other parts of Hokkaido, the species is landlocked, but on Shiretoko Dolly Varden inhabit the full length of the southern limit for this anadromous species of the western Pacific.
There are no lazy meanders to the streams of Shiretoko. Waters that gather on steep mountain slopes rush to the sea, at times cascading over sea cliff waterfalls. These rivers are renowned as mountain streams from beginning to end, Rich mountain forests nourish these streams, providing nutrients and cooling shade in summer. The cover of trees is also welcomed by fish, which use it to hide from birds and other predators. Old growth forests support fertile waters.
The Fish That Move Between Fresh and Salt Water
The Cherry salmon returns from the sea in spring, but spawns later in autumn. Some males spend their entire lives in freshwater streams. Chum salmon return throughout the fall and into the winter, from September to January of the following year. Pink salmon returning to rivers on the west side of the peninsula are an especially abundant natural resource.
The ocean coast is the meeting place for marine and terrestrial life. The ocean offers up a bounty of food resources for the living things on land, and the land returns nutrients to the sea and provides safe nesting sites among rocks and along the cliffs. Sheer cliffs, the jumble of reef and exposed rocks, sand beaches and river mouths-all these contribute to the diversity of life forms that thrive on the bounty of the coast. In Shiretoko National Park, more than two thirds of the coast and mountainous interior remains an unloaded and protected natural area.
From spring through summer, tens of thousands of Slender-billed shearwaters return to Shiretoko. These birds breed in southeast Australia, then begin a long migration to the northern hemisphere’s sub arctic zone. They are drawn across the earth by the abundant food resources consistently available in the northern seas near Shiretoko. For Sooty guillemot, the spectacular cliffs of Shiretoko are an important breeding area. The coastal cliffs and rocks are also dotted with the nests of Temminck’s cormorant, the Slaty-backed gull, and the Black-tailed gull. For the cormorant, there are few breeding areas of this scale in the world. The Slaty-backed gull, the black-tailed gull, and the Sooty guillemot, are also limited to areas around Japan. From spring through summer, the Shiretoko coastline comes alive with the cries of a diversity of birds, and every year thousands of new lives are born on these cliffs. The birds that make it through winter in other areas come back in spring to Shiretoko, an age old cycle that continues today.
Much of the Shiretoko coastline is bordered by a wall of sheer cliffs. The steep walls and jumble of rocks are evidence of years of slow, grinding erosion by the sea ice. The inaccessibility of these rock walls for most animals makes them a breeding refuge for thousands of birds each spring and summer. A unique assemblage of plants has also arisen among the rocks and crevices. Some of these stands out, like the luminescent green moss in the Makkaus cave in Rausu town.
An Abundant Diversity of Marine Mammals, the Sign of a Productive Sea.
In the productive waters surrounding the Shiretoko peninsula, eight species of whale have been observed. The presence of these marine mammals, the top level of the ecosystem, is a clear sign of the abundant living resources in these seas.
Moving south with the sea ice, a large number of Harbour and Ribbon seals make their way towards Shiretoko each winter. Other species including Ringed seals (Phoca hispida ) and Bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus ) also migrate with the ice, making the waters around Shiretoko one of the southern-most gathering areas for seals in the Pacific region. In late March and early, April, seals give birth and raise pups on the sea ice, a natural sort of rocking cradle.