Jeonnam Province Creates 12 Representative Forests... 150 Billion Won Invested Over 10 Years

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province announced on the 27th that it will invest 150 billion won over the next 10 years to create large-scale forests.

Jeonnam Province plans to establish representative forests that harmonize the sky, wind, islands, and land of the southern region as a leading project of the 7th local government’s core initiative, the ‘Clean Jeonnam Blue Economy.’

To this end, the province has secured a budget of 11 billion won this year by discovering new projects since last year and expanding and supplementing existing projects.

To highlight the symbolism of the representative forests, the ‘scenic forests’ will be created with themes of marine forests and tourism forests that blend the history, culture, and humanities of the southern region, as well as regionally specialized forests.

Additionally, the ‘income forests’ will be specialized into nut orchards, honey source orchards, and medicinal plant orchards by linking strategic tree species, considering the local climate and industrialization, with income generation.

The ‘scenic forests’ will be developed as themed forests with representative content at seven locations. ▲Two marine forests will be centered in the southwestern sea area ▲A tourism forest will be created as the Osaek Forest on Duryunsan Mountain in Haenam ▲Four regionally specialized forests will be established, including the Fragrant Forest along Gichanmeot-gil near Wolchulsan Mountain in Yeongam, expansion of the mountain azalea forest on Illimsan Mountain in Boseong, and the second bamboo healing forest linked with Juknokwon in Damyang.

In particular, the marine forests have been confirmed as a new national treasury project this year, and by 2029, the ‘Southwest Coast Island Forest Restoration Project’ will be promoted with a budget of 370 billion won covering 3,700 hectares across 16 cities and counties.

As a pilot project, a representative forest of 1,000 hectares will be created in Sinan County, with 4.3 billion won invested this year to restore the damaged subtropical forest.

The ‘income forests’ will be linked to the 6th industrialization, creating ▲a 500-hectare nut well-being forest in Yeonggwang ▲a 30-hectare beekeeping forest in Hwasun ▲and a 10-hectare bokbunja (Korean black raspberry) orchard in the Bonggang-myeon area of Gwangyang.

The agricultural products produced here are planned to be supplied entirely to the Tobacco and Ginseng Corporation. Also, the camellia forest in the Okryongsaji area of Gwangyang will be restored, and a 300-hectare camellia forest on Baekgyesan Mountain will be created for industrialization.

Along with this, Jeonnam Province will continuously create beautiful forests large and small around residents’ living areas together with residents and organizations, investing 4 billion won this year in 22 locations including the Sansuyu Forest in Gurye and the Green Tea Village Rest Forest in Boseong.

Park Hyunsik, Director of the Environment and Forestry Bureau of Jeonnam Province, said, “We will create large-scale scenic and income forests as the future representative forests of Jeonnam Province,” adding, “We will enhance the value of forests by linking them with residents’ income and utilizing them as tourism resources to lead the Clean Jeonnam Blue Economy.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.