In a bid to preserve the only sprawling homogenous red and yellow cypress (
Legislators joined environmentalists at a press conference at the Legislative Yuan yesterday and presented a declaration signed by 139 legislators expressing their support for the establishment of a Chilan National Park.
The press conference was a prelude to a more dramatic "save the forest" demonstration in Taipei scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
"We hope people will join the demonstration to push the government to establish a national park at Chilan," said Lin Sheng-chung (林聖崇) from the Ecology Conservation Alliance (生態保育聯盟).
Environmentalists said that the sprawling natural forest at Chilan Mountain, covering 46,000 hectares of land in Ilan, Taoyuan and Hsinchu counties, preserves the main fountainheads for the water supplies of half of Taiwan's population.
However, they said, the lack of balance between timber harvests and ecosystem protection has allowed the government to log 6,000 hectares of red and yellow cypress trees in the past 30 years, all in the name of forest management.
According to conservationists, a unit of the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen (VACRS,
"We hope the government will clarify its forest management policies. In addition to halting logging and establishing a national park, related biodiversity studies should be done as soon as possible," said Wu Tsung-hsien (吳尊賢), from the Society of Wilderness (荒3市O護協會).
Taking the Sequoia National Park in the US as an example, Wu said that Chilan's ecosystem would not be disturbed under national park-related laws.
Sequoia, the second-oldest national park in the US, was established in 1890 to protect the big trees in the Giant Forest, including the famous massive General Sherman Tree.
"As Christmas is around the corner, during Saturday's demonstration, we will worship the trees at Chilan as our living Christmas trees of the Millennium to highlight the forest conservation issue," Wu said.
Environmentalists predicted that there would be at least 3,000 people from every part of the island.
"The establishment of a national park will ensure the trees' right to survive (
Yang said hundreds of supporters from the south will join Saturday's demonstration.
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