Examined in this paper is the question of why pollution of upland forested areas which have lost their economic value is a major problem for rural communities. A historical examination of the relation between people’s lives and the forests from both out-of-the-ordinary and daily life perspectives revealed the following. From the out-of-the-ordinary perspective, the forested areas have been important in terms of livelihood security during disasters. As agriculture is unstable due to the influences of nature, measures have been taken to cope with this both at the level of the household and by the village as a whole. In particular, it is indicated that the systematic use of forests has been carried out mainly by the village. From the viewpoint of daily life, it is pointed out that about half of the ingredients used for daily food were obtained from forested areas. Having upland forested areas has ensured the abundance of dietary life, and, in turn, the richness of food culture. These case studies revealed that forested areas were extremely important for rural communities, and closely related to its stability and sustainability, thus being places that could not be measured in terms of economic value alone.