Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) yesterday said that a draft amendment to the Forestry Act (森林法) was submitted to the legislature’s Economic Committee last year and that the council hopes lawmakers pass the draft soon to deter illegal logging.
Chen made the statement during a legislative question-and-answer session yesterday that was held to discuss the prevention of illegal logging.
The issue has become prominent since an incident in which Taitung-based wood dealers Su Chung-shan (蘇中山) and his younger brother Su Chunug-fu (蘇中福) allegedly harvested valuable red cypress and Taiwanese yellow cedar logs — which they claimed were legally harvested driftwood — and donated them to Xinshang Temple (興善宮) in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
Asked by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) whether the act was stringent enough and whether illegal logging could be quelled by stiffer penalties, Chen Bao-ji said the recent incident has highlighted flaws in the act that have caused confusion over the legitimacy of logging activities.
On a bylaw governing driftwood collection by the public, he said that the council would formulate more detailed stipulations to regulate the activity and push for the amendment of the Forestry Act to allow more effective law enforcement.
When it was introduced in 2004, the bylaw stipulated that the public may collect driftwood one month after a natural disaster, but should not collect any precious “first-class” wood as listed by the Forestry Bureau — including red cypress, Taiwanese yellow cedar, stout camphor, Taiwanese incense cedar and Taiwanese Zelkova.
However, the restriction on types of wood was canceled in 2010 after a legislative resolution and the bylaw now states that “the public should only collect driftwood that has no economic value.”
STIFFER PENALTIES
Chen Bao-ji said his council in May last year delivered a draft amendment to the act to the legislature’s Economics Committee aiming to stiffen penalties for illegal loggers.
The draft, currently under review, proposes an increase in the maximum prison term for violations from five to seven years, in addition to an optional fine of between NT$300,000 and NT$3 million (US$9,560 and US$95,600).
Other proposed amendments include an increased maximum jail term of up to 10-and-a-half years for those who harvest first class woods.
OUTGUNNED
He also said mountain rangers are grossly under-equipped against illegal loggers in terms of firepower.
Environmentalist Lin Chang-mao (林長茂) said mountain rangers are equipped only with a Bowie knife, used to clear weed during patrols, while illegal loggers often carry guns.
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