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Forests expand in Hualien, Penghu

A footpath in Hualien County's Shoufeng Township is seen in this photo taken on Monday. Yesterday, the path was lined with cherry blossoms, a sight that is normally only seen at around the Lunar New Year. PHOTO: CHIEN CHUN-YU, TAIPEI TIMES

The government will continue its efforts to expand forests around Taiwan to promote sustainable usage of territorial lands, officials from the Construction and Planning Administration (CPA) said.

The CPA said it would focus this year's reforestation efforts in Hualien County, where trees and seedlings would be planted at three locations covering a total area of 75 hectares.

Some 165,000 trees and seed-lings were planted on an area of 110 hectares nationwide between 2005 and last year under the CPA-authorized projects.

Covering areas in Chihshang Township (池上) Taitung County, along the Sichiaolin Tidal lands in Taichung County and on coastal lands in Shoufeng (壽豐) in Hualien County, the projects are expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 743 tonnes a year when all the seed-lings mature.

CPA officials said a grown tree is able to absorb more than 4.5kg of carbon dioxide a year.

In related news, some 100 members of the Penghu Association of Taipei traveled to the outlying island of Penghu on Friday to plant trees to help boost the county's tourism efforts.

The Penghu Association, led by chairman Kao Chien-wen (高建文), planted a total of 210 long-leaved conifers called podocarpaceae (Podocarpus nerifolius) at a park in Makung (馬公市), Penghu, in the first stage of the tree-planting drive.

Some clan members even came from the US and Australia, Kao said. He said that the "only viable way" to promote tourism in Penghu during the fall and winter months was to plant trees to green the islands and make them more appealing.

Kao said that despite Penghu's white sand beaches, emerald sea and beautiful scenery, the island group attracts less than one-fourth of the tourists in the inclement fall and winter months than it attracts in spring and summer.

Since late last year, Kao has called on Penghu natives who live on Taiwan proper or people who have visited the island chain to donate NT$2,000 (US$62) to pay for a tree to be planted there.

The donated trees, which will bear the donors' names and the date of the planting, will be monitored on a daily basis as part of a long-term project, Kao said.

Welcoming the Penghu association members, Penghu County Commissioner Wang Chien-fa (王乾發) expressed his appreciation to the visitors and hoped that all Penghu natives, wherever they live, will make concerted efforts to facilitate the island group's sustainable development.
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