Plant types of Taiwan are diverse and abundant because of the subtropical location. The range of island altitudes exceeds those of south China, Japan, and the Philippines. This provides climatic and vegetation zones extending from tropical to alpine.
Forty-four per cent of the land area is higher than 700 meters (2,296 feet) above sea level. There are 62 peaks with elevations of more than 3,000 meters (9,840 feet). Yu Shan (Mount Morrison) and Tahsueh Shan (Mount Sylvia) are higher than Fujiyama of Japan. The Central Range, running from the northeast corner to the southern tip, occupies almost half of the island.
The Tropic of Cancer runs through the central part. Fifty-six per cent of the land area is in the tropical zone, 31 per cent in the subtropical; 11 per cent in the temperate, and 2 per cent in the frigid. The greatest wealth of forests is located in the temperate zone between 5,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level. Temperature at sea level ranges from 34°F. to 104°F. The temperature averages 60°F. in winter and 80°F. in summer. Annual rainfall is between 43 and 196 inches.
About two-thirds of the land is better suited for forests than for other vegetation. There are 190 plant families, 1,180 genera, and more than 3,800 species. A third of the flora is indigenous.
Hardwoods are the most luxuriant, covering 72.5 per cent of the forest land. Distribution of other categories includes conifers, 18.9 per cent; bamboo, 5.8 per cent; and mixed forest of hardwoods and conifers, 2.8 per cent.
Hardwoods are divided into tropical, subtropical, and temperate stands.
The tropical stand occupies nearly 30 per cent of total forest land. It grows at the lowest elevation, below 1,000 feet in the north and 2,000 feet in the south. Acacia is the common tree, found everywhere in the lower hills. It is the principal source of charcoal and mine timbers. Other species include gum, kamala, and banyan.
The subtropical stand is found between 1,000 and 5,000 feet in the north and 2,000 and 6,500 feet in the south. Main species are oak, tanoak, champac, chinkapin, and schima. The temperate stand dominates higher altitudes. Notable species are oak and alder.
Conifers include cypress, hemlock, fir, spruce, and pine. They grow at altitudes of more than 6,500 feet and form 52 per cent of the 6 billion cubic feet of timber resources. Economically, the cypress forests are the most valuable. They account for 30 per cent of the coniferous growing stock, mostly in virgin forests. Tree ages range from 200 to 2,000 years.
A mixed forest of hardwood and conifers forms a narrow belt at elevations from 5,000 to 6,500 feet. Forestry authorities are trying to convert the greater part of this forest into conifers. However, such valuable hardwood species as zelkova, champac, oak, and tanoak will remain.
Bamboo Plentiful
Bamboo flourishes everywhere on the island, especially in the moist areas of the north and central areas. In the· south, most bamboo stands are utilized for farmstead planting.
Of all growing forest stock, 52.7 per cent is accessible. Compared with other industries, forestry development is slow because of the lack of transportation facilities and the practice of rotational logging.
Plywood is an important earner of foreign exchange (File photo)
There are 243 logging companies, 8 government logging stations, 659 saw mills, 400 furniture manufacturing shops, 55 paper mills, 17 dry kilns, 15 plywood mills, 7 composite board plants, 7 wood preservation plants, and 2 match plants. About 3 per cent of 11½ million people is supported by the wood industry.
The greater part of forest land is state-owned. Government agencies turn out 17 million cubic feet of coniferous logs a year. Private logging is confined to the more readily accessible areas because of limited capital and inadequate equipment. Annual output is 13 million cubic feet of mostly hardwoods. Peak year before restoration of the island to the Republic of China was 1942, when public and private production totaled 20 million cubic feet.
Government enterprises use railway, cableway, and truck for transportation. At private installations, skid ways play an important role. To facilitate transportation, the Taiwan Forestry Bureau recently mapped a 20-year plan to construct 25 forest roads totaling 580 miles. A part of the construction has been begun.
Rotational logging is practiced to preserve timber resources, prevent soil erosion, and control floods. Rotation in hardwood forests has a period of from 20 to 40 years. In coniferous forests, it is from 40 to 80 years.
Long Export History
Export of Taiwan woods dates to the 17th century during the period of Dutch control. The principal market was Europe. In 1867, the Manchu government permitted westerners to extract camphor oil in the mountain area. During the Japanese occupation from 1895 to 1945, red cypress was exported to Japan for Shinto shrines and paper door frames.
Current export items include bamboo, cypress logs, camphor products, furniture, handicrafts, newsprint, paper, plywood, railway ties, and rattan products. Earnings of foreign exchange have increased from US$327,000 in 1953 to $17 million in 1962.
Plywood tops the export list of wood products. It ranks fifth in free China's foreign exchange earnings behind sugar, rice, textiles, and chemicals.
Export began in 1957 with revenue of only $308,000. The figure was more than $10 million last year. Of the annual output of 215 million square feet, more than 80 per cent is sold overseas. Buyers are Canada, the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, Chile, Korea, Japan, the Ryukyus, Hongkong, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, the Netherlands, West Germany, Spain, Great Britain, and South Africa. The local tea industry annually uses 300,000 plywood cases (19" x 15" x 15") made of michilus and schefflera for export packing.
Nine of the 15 plywood mills are located in Kaoshiung, a southern seaport. Lin Shan Hao Plywood Corporation is the oldest and the largest. It was established at Chiayi, central Taiwan, in 1938. Before 1945, Lin Shan Hao manufactured veneers for local consumption and export to Japan. Plywood production was started after the war. To meet the increasing demand from local and overseas markets, another plant was set up at Kaoshiung in 1953:
Annual production capacity is 120 million square feet in terms of ⅛" plywood. Product varieties include lauan (Philippine mahogany), mosaic, fancy, lumber core, plastic overlaid, and prefinished plywood, and flush doors.
Private Enterprise
The plywood industry is wholly a private enterprise. Ninety per cent of the raw material—lauan—is imported from the Philippines. The rest comes from Singapore and North Borneo. The government has been advocating use of domestic woods. Experiments have shown that cypress, spruce, hemlock, schima, chinkapin, champac, and sassafras make good plywood. Another product overlays plywood with fancy grains of hardwood. Many foreign builders are inquiring about this decorative design.
The camphor tree, with estimated reserves of 100 million cubic feet, is one of Taiwan's specialties. Camphor products include powder, tablets, oil, and pitch. Annual output is 500 tons, and half is exported. The leading buyer is the United States, followed by Vietnam, France, Japan, Hongkong, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand.
The Taiwan Camphor Refinery was set up by the Japanese in 1899. It is the largest in the world, producing 9 to 11 tons of camphor oil and 5 to 6 tons of by-products a day. In 1953, it turned out 2,500 tons, representing 30 per cent of the world output. Production in recent years has shown a sharp decrease because of lack of raw material.
Furniture manufacturing is the largest segment of the woodworking industry. Four hundred shops employing five or six men each supply wood, rattan, and bamboo furniture to 1,800 retail dealers throughout the province. A few larger factories have working forces of 50 to 70 skilled laborers, but none is set up for mass production. Twenty manufacturers make carved furniture, chests, and handicrafts of camphor wood and teak for export. Fancy grain veneers are used for decoration of chests, cabinets, and mosaic wall panels.
Pulp and Paper
Pine, hemlock, and bamboo are used in paper and pulp manufacture (File photo)
The pulp and paper industry uses pine and hemlock as raw material. Owing to lack of sustained plywood supply, bamboo is used as substitute. Twenty mills consume 60,000 tons of green bamboo a year.
Taiwan exports and imports about the same quantity of pulp and paper. Foreign exchange earnings are $4 million a year. Principal buyers are the United States, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Iran, Hongkong, Singapore, Malaya, and the Ryukyus.
Imports are mostly kraft pulp and high grade lithograph paper. Several mills recently started to make kraft pulp from local hardwoods,
The composite board plants use waste wood salvaged from logging stations and saw mills and bagasse from sugar mills.
The first plant was set up at Changhua, central Taiwan, by the Taiwan Sugar Corporation in 1954. It is the first in the world to make quality hardboard from bagasse, and also the biggest of its kind in the Far East. Production capacity is 150,000 square feet a day.
The Taiwan Homodura Corporation, the New Era Company, and the Kaoshiung plant of TSC are the major resin board and chip board manufacturers. Total production capacity of seven plants is 70 million square feet of hardboard and 1 million cubic feet of chip board.
The average land slope of Taiwan is 35 degrees. Technically, land slopes of more than 25 degrees are considered pure forest zones and need constant protection of vegetation to withstand heavy rains and violent winds of typhoons. Some timber resources were overexploited before 1945, and especially during the war. Uncontrolled logging led to soil erosion and floods.
Since the war, the government has implemented several large-scale reforestation programs, ranging from 74,000 to 111,000 acres a year. March 12 is observed as Arbor Day.
Strong Coastal Winds
The coastal areas of the island are exposed to winds of high velocity from September to March. The wind damages farm products and causes shifting of sand dunes. Of the 34,000 acres of seacoast forests and farm windbreaks planted before 1945, more than half have been destroyed. They have been reforested during the last decade.
Nearly all scenic spots of Taiwan such as Yangmingshan (Grass Mountain), Wulai, Sun Moon Lake, Ali Shan, Taroko Gorge, and Kenting Park are located in forest areas. They attract thousands of sightseers every year.
The term "forest recreation" is comparatively new in free China. It was officially mentioned for the first time in the Taiwan Forestry Policy and Management Guide lines promulgated in 1958. It is based on he concept of "multiple use of forest land"—timber for industry, water for city and farm, forage for live-stock and wildlife, and outdoor recreation for man.
The Taiwan Forestry Bureau was reorganized in 1960 and now lists forest recreation as one of its major tasks.
The Taiwan Logging Bureau was the first forestry administration on the island. It was established by the Manchus in 1873. During the Japanese occupation, forestry was administered by the forestry section of the Taiwan Governor's Office.
When the island was restored to the Republic of China in 1945, the forestry section was reorganized into the Forestry Bureau of the Taiwan Provincial Government. Seventy-two Japanese lumber companies were either absorbed into the Forestry Bureau or sold to private entrepreneurs.
The Forestry Bureau controls national forests and government logging stations through 13 district officers and 42 working units. Jurisdiction of a district office ranges from 148,000 to 461,000 acres. Each county and township government has several forestry officers.
Research Institute
The Taiwan Forest Research Institute was established 60 years ago. It first emphasized practice of silviculture and introduction of exotic species, and later, forest management and utilization of products. It grows 1,000 endemic and exotic species in the Taipei Botanical Garden and 400 in the Hengchun Tropical Arboretum in the south.
Mosaid plywood is gaining in popularity for interior decoration (File photo)
Advisory organs include the agriculture and forestry department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the forestry division of the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction.
Three colleges and 41 vocational schools offer forestry education. Annual enrollment of the former totals 3,000, that of the latter 25,000.
Timber exports for 1963 are expected to reach $7 million. The Forestry Bureau already has received orders totaling 6 million cubic feet for the second half of 1963. However, it can supply no more than 1 million cubic feet during that period. Preliminary logging goal for 1964 is 43 million cubic feet, with a tenth for export.
So far, Taiwan timber has been used mainly as building material and fuel. With the introduction of wood processing and of forest recreation, the industry is developing in multiple directions. Success will keep the island evergreen and prosperous.