Last year saw 125 cases of illegal logging, but forest rangers are in short supply and need the help of local communities, Council of Agriculture Forestry Bureau Director-General Lin Hua-ching (林華慶) said yesterday.
“The nation’s precious forest resources are maintained by a group of silent rangers. While few people understand what they are doing, we hope to remind people of their contributions through our celebration of World Ranger Day on July 31,” Lin said before presenting awards to 14 outstanding rangers at a ceremony in Taipei yesterday.
The bureau’s first contract ranger, Sun Chia-hisang (孫嘉祥), from the Forest District Office in Taichung’s Dongshih District (東勢), talked about his experiences of fighting logging rings.
“We could see the traces of illegal lumbering, but it was hard to catch the loggers,” he said. “They can walk in darkness without lights.”
Sun said he and colleagues had the luck to catch two illegal loggers in 2013, just because one of them was so absorbed in sawing a Formosan China-fir (香杉) that he did not hear their approaching steps.
Having worked at the office for 10 years, Sun said the work is challenging and dangerous, as each ranger is on average responsible for more than 2,000 hectares of land.
Being on the lookout for illegal loggers is just one of the rangers’ regular duties, Sun said.
“I grew up in the mountains and I like the natural environment very much… It feels good to see the forest resources around and serve as their guardian,” he said when asked why he continued to do the work despite the dangers.
A bureau official said there are about 1,847,000 hectares of publicly-owned forest land, yet the bureau has only 1,019 staff rangers, 192 of whom are contract employees.
However, any adjustment to ranger’s salaries is difficult, given that their salary standards are subject to rules for civil servants, Lin said when asked about the issue.
To supplement the inadequate labor force, the bureau has since 2012 recruited volunteers and college clubs to join forest protection, he said.
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