Current view: Text account
Site description (2007 baseline):
Site location and context
The site is formed on the borderlines of plains and hilly districts in the northern part of Miyagi Prefecture. Lake Izunuma and Lake Uchinuma area used to be a vast wetland spreading along the Hasamagawa river, but repeated reclamation works have shaped the present form of lakes. Underwater and floating leaved plants thrive in the shallow waters, while emergent plant zone with Phragmites australis and others expands along the lakes. Salix forests are formed outside the emergent plant zone, along banks and inflowing rivers. In some parts of its extensive open water surface, muddy bottoms of the lakes are exposed like tidal wetlands in the drought season. Most of the flat lands around the lakes are rice paddy fields, and low hills around the lakes are utilized as afforestation areas for Cyryptomeria japonica, Quercus serrata and Castanea crenata secondary forests, fields, residential areas and for other versatile purposes.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Izunuma and nearby lakes (Japan). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/izunuma-and-nearby-lakes-iba-japan on 23/12/2024.
