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FEATURE : ‘Old Tree Mother’ works to save ancient trees

“Tree hugger” Hsieh Fen-yu poses beside one of the trees she has saved from felling and replanted on her own land in Miaoli County, in this undated photograph. PHOTO COURTESY OF HSIEH FEN-YU

Like the foolish old man who removed mountains in Chinese folklore, a Hakka woman in Miaoli County has single-mindedly pursued an obsession to save felled trees around Taiwan in a task that many, including her children, once believed was sheer folly.

Hsieh Fen-yu’s (謝粉玉) task may not be as intimidating or improbable as the old man of lore who wanted to level two mountains, but she has needed every bit of his indomitable will over the past 25 years to maintain her pursuit, withstanding a lost fortune, condemnation from her children and heavy debts.

Today, the 63-year-old Hsieh has six small plots of land around Miaoli County that hold more than 1,000 big, rare and ancient trees — trees that were once threatened with destruction by developers.

Though she has accumulated NT$20 million (US$600,000) in debt to support her obsession — with no indication she will be able to clear it anytime soon — her passion to save trees has never waned.

That passion began in 1983, when her husband died. Hsieh’s friends tried to cheer her up by taking her on nature walks at home or on trips abroad, and these changed her worldview forever.

Seeing the importance other parts of the world placed on environmental conservation, Hsieh found that Taiwan lacked respect for trees, leading to her eventual transformation into a full-time conservationist.

A natural businesswoman with a strong work ethic, Hsieh amassed a fortune in the 10 years following her husband’s death by operating a food wholesaling business and working as a timber dealer and real estate broker. During that time, she became increasingly committed to putting her wealth into saving trees.

She intervened whenever an old tree needed to be saved, and there were — and still are ‑— plenty of the trees in danger in a country where few share Hsieh’s concern for the natural environment.

Many old trees around Taiwan were being chopped down to make way for new roads, parks or farmland. Others were unnecessarily felled because of feng shui — a big tree in front of a door may be removed, for example, because it blocks a house’s qi, or energy, and is thought to bring the occupants bad luck.

“Old Tree Mother,” who says she “can’t stand it” when she hears an old tree might be cut down, became the person to call when trees were about to be felled.

Environmentally aware developers would inform her well before groundbreaking to move threatened trees, but she would also get last-minute calls from bulldozer operators at other job sites telling her to rush over because several big trees were about to be chopped down.

At that point, Hsieh would scramble to the site, sometimes hours away, to assess the manpower and equipment needed to remove the trees, and then accompany her crew to the site to complete the job.

The trees are carefully handled. Workers trim a tree’s branches except for a few at the top to make it easier for them to lift and move the tree onto a truck. Hsieh then applies a protective coating agent on parts of the tree that were cut, while packing the roots in thick, wet mud.

She then wraps the trunk in a soft fabric imported from Japan to protect the tree’s bark from being damaged during transport.

The process, along with buying land to replant the trees, is of course expensive.

“Just cutting it down is the easiest way to get rid of an old tree,” Hsieh said.

Two lumberjacks with a ­chainsaw can finish off a big tree in 10 minutes and then sell it as timber for between NT$10,000 and NT$20,000, she said.

But having a tree removed and transplanted can cost between NT$30,000 and NT$100,000, depending on its size, length and location.

Big trees on mountain slopes, unreachable by trucks and heavy cranes, are the most problematic, and Hsieh has often opened makeshift paths to give vehicles access to the site and help move the trees, running afoul of the law in doing so.

She has been issued fines ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$100,000 for “damaging the public environment” and has also been treated as an “illegal logging” suspect by local police until they discovered her true intention.

The huge expenses incurred, and the toll it eventually took on the family finances, left many, including her children, thinking Hsieh was crazy.

Her obsession eventually cost Hsieh her wealth, ate into her savings and forced her to sell most of her property. She lost two large tracts of land in 2004 after defaulting on bank loans in excess of NT$50 million.

Hsieh’s worsening finances and time away from her family left her children furious. Hsieh’s two older daughters were angry at her as her hard-earned fortune disappeared in the name of trees.

Unlike the foolish old man of legend, whose rigid determination so impressed the heavens that they sent two gods to move the mountains, Hsieh has not received any divine intervention in helping her sort out her debts or support her obsession.

However, her story has inspired others to help. Wu Ching-ching, a business owner in Taichung, saw a TV news story about Hsieh and her financial plight eight years ago after having dreamed about big old trees and their suffering roots for several nights.

Hsieh’s story moved Wu to tears and, unable to explain why her feelings were so strong, she sought out “Old Tree Mother.” Since then, Wu’s company has made annual financial contributions to Hsieh’s tree-saving operations.

Hsieh’s children, who are now grown up and have jobs of their own, have also become more supportive of her efforts, and they are now taking care of the payments on her outstanding loans.

Hsieh remains busy saving trees today, and she is also working to establish a foundation to help realize her dream to create an old tree park for education, research and recreation purposes.

Understanding that her energy is limited and money does not “grow on trees,” she hopes to raise the funds to establish the foundation from outside donors.

She envisions the park serving as a “tree bank,” where trees that need saving can be brought or where people can adopt one or several trees.

In her vision, young parents could sponsor a tree as a gift to their newborn baby or even bring their own young trees to plant in the park to mark a child’s birth. The idea would be to have the family visit the park periodically, and establish a family tradition that would continue for generations.

She also sees the park serving as a classroom where teachers could bring students to teach them about conservation.

Hsieh believes older trees have a soul and if people listen hard enough, they can hear the stories they have to tell. She admits she has already been possessed by those stories and by an even higher power.

“I believe it’s God’s mission for me to intervene,” she said.
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