is a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

on the

Rishiri Island is a high island in the Sea of Japan off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan. Administratively the island is part of Hokkaido Prefecture, and is divided between two towns, Rishiri and Rishirifuji. The island is formed by the cone-shaped extinct ...

Rebun Island is an island in the Sea of Japan off the northwestern tip of Hokkaidō, Japan. The island sits off the coast of Hokkaidō. Rebun stretches from north to south and from east to west. The island covers approximately . Rebun Island is located ...

, and a coastal area from Wakkanai to Horonobe at the north-western tip of

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. Areas of the park cover . The park is noted for its

alpine flora Alpine flora may refer to: * Alpine tundra, a community of plants that live at high altitude * Alpine plants that live within that community * Flora of the Alps __NOTOC__ The Alps are one of the great mountain range systems of Europe stretching ap ...

and views of

volcanic mountains A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

and areas formed by marine

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...

. The park is surrounded by fishing grounds, and the coastal areas of the park are rich in

kelp Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "underwa ...

. The coastal areas of the national park can be accessed from

Japan National Route 40 is a national highway connecting Asahikawa and Wakkanai in Hokkaidō, Japan. Route data *Length: 243.0 km (151.0 mi) *Origin: Asahikawa, Hokkaidō (originates at the terminus of 12 and the origin of 39) *Terminus: Wakkanai, Hokka ...

, known as the Wakkanai National Highway, and the Rishiri and Rebun are accessible by ferry from Wakkanai.

Geography

Rishiri Island

, separated from Hokkaido by the Rishiri Channel, was formed by the cone-shaped extinct volcanic peak of Mount Rishiri (). The island is in circumference and covers .

Rebun Island

is approximately west of Wakkanai in Hokkaido. The island is in circumference and covers . Rebun reaches its highest altitude at Rebundake.

Sarobetsu Plain

The is a

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found ...

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

on the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

formed by the

Teshio River The is a river in Hokkaidō, Japan. At , it is the second-longest river on the island (after the Ishikari) and the fourth-longest in the country (after the Shinano, Tone, and Ishikari). A Class A river, the Teshio is the northernmost major ...

and Sarobetsu River. The plain is approximately long and covers approximately . The Sarobetsu Plain has a

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Genera ...

climate and consists of large

peat bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s. The Sarobetsu Plain was added to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance in 2005 as part of the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It ...

, an international

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal per ...

for the conservation of

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

References

External links