P1-3-3 
6. CONDITION FOR NESTING SITE SELECTION 
The condition for nesting site selection and potential nesting 
site for the Kushiro Wetland and Furen Lake was observed as 
following: 
Kushiro Wetland area 
1) The wet soil surface condition 
2) The distance of 100m (and above) away from the roads, 
360m (and above) away from the residential houses as 
unfavorable condition for artificial structures. A 
distance of within 260m was selected from the water 
stream as a favorable condition for nestmg and the home 
range was selected as 677m of radius. 
Furen Lake area 
1) The distance of 64m (and above) from the road, 267m 
(and above) from the buildings, within 826m from water 
bodies, the home range of 474m was observed 
2) For the areas having no wet land surface, 74m (and 
above) from the road, 230m (and above) from the 
buildings, within 1,806m from water bodies, the home 
range of 284m was observed. 
The Figures 5 & 6 show the potential nesting sites for 1994 
based on the above mentioned rules. The nesting sites of 
Kushiro Wetland are increasing and areas on the slopes are 
only remained for the nestmg. In Furen Lake area, the 
wetland area is small and the nestmg sites were concentrated 
near the buildings, roads and also on the slope areas. 
7. CONCLUSIONS 
The following conclusions are mentioned: 
(1) The habitats’ environment of cranes are becoming 
adverse. The nestmg sites are crowded and new 
nestmg sites are limited m Kushiro Wetland. The 
situation of Furen Lake area is different. 
(2) The cranes have started selectmg the nestmg sites near 
people’s living areas, due to reduction of the nestmg 
sites. 
(3) The concept of landscape ecology was utilized for the 
habitat areas for the endangered wildlife animals. 
(4) GIS and remote sensing were utilized to observe the 
habitats of cranes and their environment and found to 
be capable to identify the nestmg sites and the habitat’s 
environment 
The followings will be considered for the future studies: 
(1) Various options will be selected as maps of the same 
accuracy are limited 
(2) Cloud free satellite images are difficult to procure and 
maximum utilization is a limitation, therefore better 
sensors should be applied 
(3) The concept of landscape ecology has a great importance 
for temporal analysis. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
The authors would like to express their thanks to Prof. 
Hiroyuki Masatomi, Senshu University, Hokkaido for 
providing the data and valuable advises. Thanks are also 
extended to Mr. Masahiko Yoshn of the National Park 
Wildlife Office of Northern Hokkaido, Environmental Agency, 
for providing the information on the cranes’ nestmg sites 
distribution. The Geographic Survey Institute also provided 
supports for the present study. 
REFERENCES 
Stow, D A., 1993. The role of geographic information system 
for landscape ecology. Taylor and Francis, pp. 11-21. 
Hirata, K., Sato. K, and Murakami, H, 1995. Potential 
nesting area identifying through rule-based GIS. International 
Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 30-4w2, 
pp.79-85. 
Murakami, H., and Hirata, K., 1996. Potential nestmg site 
analysis of Red-cranes using GIS, International Archives of 
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vol.XXXI, Part B4, 
Vienna, pp. 575-580.