Kushiro Shitsugen National Park

Kushiro Shitsugen National Park

Kushiro-shitsugen National Park (釧路湿原国立公園, Kushiro-shitsugen Kokuritsu Kōen?) is a national park located in the east of the island of Hokkaido, Japan. It was designated as a national park on 31 July 1987. The park is known for its wetlands ecosystems.

Kushiro-shitsugen (Kushiro Wetlands or Kushiro Swamp, Marshland) covers an area of 268.61 square kilometres (103.71 sq mi) on the Kushiro Plain (Kushiro-heiya) and contains the largest tracts of reedbeds in Japan. The Kushiro River (154 kilometres (96 mi)), which originates in Lake Kussharo, meanders through much of the park. During the Ramsar Convention of 1980, in which Japan participated, the park was first registered as a peatland with raised bogs. In 1967, the wetlands (shitsugen) themselves had been designated as a national natural monument. For that reason, access is strictly limited and the landscape, most typical of Hokkaido, has been preserved.