The job also has its share of frustrations, not the least of which is the rangers’ lack of authority.
“We forest rangers are not law enforcement personnel. With no judicial power, we cannot arrest illegal loggers, we can only monitor their activities,” he said.
When a two-member patrol team spots poaching or illegal logging, one ranger remains at the site, while the other has to run to the closest police precinct to report the case, which can often take several hours.
“Sometimes when the police finally arrive, the loggers are long gone and the police then blame us for bringing them on a wild goose chase,” Chung said.
Yet Chung sympathizes with the Aborigines, who are hired by anonymous “big mountain rats” to illegally uproot or fell old trees, because the “big rats” prey on the workers while remaining out of sight, beyond the reach of the law.
Chung says he enjoys his work because he has witnessed progress in wildlife conservation.
His biggest success was last May, when he discovered large undisturbed tracts of rare old-growth red cypress and Taiwan fir, he said.
“The biggest tract encompasses more than 40 centuries-old red cypress, some of which need 15 people to hug,” he said.
“When I started my mountain career, I could hardly hear any animal sounds and saw a lot of litter on Dawushan trails,” he said.
“Through intensive publicity campaigns to raise public awareness of the importance of nature and ecological conservation in recent years, we can now hear the sounds of Formosan barking deer, goats and other animals,” Chung said.
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