Taiwan Today

Taiwan’s Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area will reopen next month just as its autumn foliage comes into full bloom, according to the Nantou Forest District Office Nov. 10. The recreation area has been closed due to typhoon flooding in 2008. Chen Chi-rong, chief of the recreation section of the Nantou Forest District Office, said fewer than 50 Formosan sweetgum (Liquidambar formosana) trees died, while nearly all the Taiwan cinnamon and Taiwan zelkova trees perished. After the July 2nd flooding in 2005, silt in the riverbed piled up. The Formosan sweetgum trees were buried in over 20 meters of sand. Typhoon Sinlaku in 2008 then flooded half of the trees. Typhoon Morakot further devastated the area this year. Forest authorities worried that the Formosan sweetgum forest would shrink significantly, but conditions turned out surprisingly differently. Chen pointed out that the area open to visitors for viewing foliage and picking up red leaves was previously about four hectares. As the mud accumulated, previously steep slopes have been leveled out, enlarging the Formosan sweetgum forest area to six hectares. Tzeng Hsy-yu, a professor of forestry at National Chung Hsing University, was commissioned by the district office to investigate the impact of flooding and silt on the forest at Aowanda. He said although Formosan sweetgums are able to endure humidity and like to grow next to creeks, for them to survive when buried in nearly five meters of mud is a rarity. Tzeng said his research team set up a sample area of 262 Formosan sweetgum trees buried by flooding. By June, only 15 of the trees had died. In the same area, the majority of the more than 200 Taiwan zelkova and over 100 Taiwan cinnamon had succumbed. When the silt piled up higher after Typhoon Morakot, almost all the Taiwan zelkova and Taiwan cinnamon died while most of the Formosan sweetgum trees survived. Tzeng said when Formosan sweetgums are buried in sand, their condition worsens due to an increasing number of insects. However, after Typhoon Morakot buried the trees even deeper in mud, the trees were saved as the mud suffocated the pests. (JY-THN)