Gyeongbuk Forest Environment Research Institute Signs Mutual Cooperation Agreement with Forestry Workers

The Forest Environment Research Institute signed a mutual cooperation agreement with the Yeongyang-gun Forestry Successors Council on the 28th for the pilot cultivation and industrialization of the arrowwood tree.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Gui-yeol] The Gyeongsangbuk-do Forest Environment Research Institute signed a mutual cooperation agreement on the 28th at the Forest Food and Medicinal Mushroom Research Center located in Yeongdeok with members of the Forestry Successors Yeongyang County Council and related institutions for the pilot cultivation and industrialization of Euonymus alatus.

This agreement concerns mutual cooperation for the establishment and management of a pilot Euonymus alatus site to increase forest income and industrialization for foresters. A 0.1-hectare pilot site will be established on a mountain owned by a member of the Yeongyang County Council, and activities such as weeding, management, and product harvesting will be jointly promoted.

The leaves produced at the pilot site will be used as preclinical experimental materials for research on brain health forest bio new materials, and will also be developed into health foods that can be conveniently enjoyed, ranging from traditional foods like pickled vegetables to frozen instant foods such as Gondre rice.

Additionally, the Forestry Successors Yeongyang County Council plans to cooperate in building data on Euonymus alatus cultivation techniques within forests and developing consulting models so that they can serve as mentors to novice foresters.

Euonymus alatus is mainly used as an ornamental tree, but its branches are medicinal, its leaves serve as edible greens and functional ingredients for brain health improvement, and its beautiful autumn foliage is utilized as a tourism product, making it a resource with very high potential value that can promote industries from primary to sixth sector.

Accordingly, since 2018, the Forest Environment Research Institute has been promoting research on the industrialization of Euonymus alatus, developing a prototype product for memory improvement, securing intellectual property rights by registering a patent for a brain health improvement composition, thereby laying the foundation for industrialization.

Based on this, standardization of raw materials is underway through preclinical experiments verifying the preventive effects on Alzheimer's dementia.

In the future, clinical trials for registration as a health functional food ingredient with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the establishment of large-scale Euonymus alatus plantations will be conducted to expand the foundation for technology transfer and commercialization.

Euonymus is used as an ornamental tree, its branches have medicinal uses, the leaves are used as edible greens and functional ingredients for brain health improvement, and its beautiful autumn foliage is utilized as a tourism product.

Kim Yong-woo, chairman of the Forestry Successors Yeongyang County Council, said, “We hope that with the establishment of this pilot site, Yeongyang will be developed as a Euonymus alatus special zone, becoming a driving force for regional economic growth, and that various product developments beyond functional ingredients will create a new wave as a new income item for the region.”

Um Tae-in, director of the Gyeongbuk Forest Environment Research Institute, said, “We are focusing on practical field research directly linked to foresters’ income, such as pine mushrooms, functional forest mushrooms, wild pears, and Euonymus alatus,” adding, “We will actively promote sustainable future core industries through forest bio new material industrialization research together with local foresters.”