In a bid to preserve Taipei City's old trees, the municipal government's Bureau of Cultural Affairs (文化局) is gearing up to protect more than 1,000 old trees that a recent survey identified for protection, and to campaign for the passage of a bylaw for tree protection.
"If we have accomplished anything in tree protection over the past year, it is that we've made various departments of the city government realize that it's important to protect and respect the city's old trees," said the director of Taipei's cultural affairs bureau, Lung Ying-tai (龍應台), at a press conference held at the Taipei City Mayor's Official Residence (市長官邸) in downtown Taipei yesterday afternoon.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lung said that she hopes the City Council would give priority to review the Taipei City Tree Protection Bylaw (台北市樹木保護自治條例) when it convenes its next session on March 26. The bylaw received approval at a city affairs meeting in June last year and currently awaits approval by the city council.
The regulation protects trees that are more than 100 years old, taller than 15m and larger than 2.5m in diameter.
Those who cut the protected trees without first obtaining approval from the bureau will face a fine of up to NT$100,000.
Taipei County, Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City have already approved tree protection bylaws.
The survey made public yesterday showed that a total of 1,146 old trees have been located in certain areas of the city's 12 districts since the bureau began its survey on Sept. 25 last year.
The 1,100 or so old trees consist of 32 families and 67 species. 85 percent of them are protophyta -- that is, they are of a variety that originated in Taiwan. The most common trees are banyan, camphor and large-leaved banyan.
The survey also found that Peitou District has the most old trees with 289, or 24 percent of the total identified. It is followed by Shihlin District with 249 old trees or 22 percent of the total, and Ta-an District with 114 old trees, or 10 percent of the total.
Hsinyi District has the fewest old trees with only 19, or 2 percent of the total.
The survey excludes trees in national parks, the Botanical Garden in Chungcheng District, the Sungshan Tobacco Factory in Hsinyi District, Peitou District, and Chungcheng District's 228 Memorial Park in Chungcheng District, and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
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