To prepare for the typhoon season and prevent injury from falling palm branches, an elementary school in Changhua County denuded all but one of the branches of each of the campus’ royal palms, wrecking the appearance of the ornamental trees and endangering their survival, residents said.
The grove of five-story-high palms towering over the campus used to boast lush plumes, but the over-pruning has made them look like roosters stripped of their combs, residents said.
Saying they were saddened by the sight of the misshapen trees that are estimated to be more than 50 years old, residents called on the county government to monitor the pruning of plants at local schools.
Photo: Lin Liang-che, Taipei Times
Changhua County Councilor Lin Shih-hsien (林世賢) said that although the government had passed rules concerning tree conservation that regulates pruning, the regulation is only a general rule rather than a species-specific directive.
Over-pruning a coconut palm can cause serious damage to its ability to photosynthesize and can even kill it completely, as palms are more dependent than other trees on their leaves for survival, Lin said.
Lin called on the county government to revise its regulations, put forward species-appropriate rules and demand all local institutions to comply with the rules to prevent such an incident from happening again.
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