Dongshih Forestry Culture Park conserves a modern-era industrial heritage site in central Taiwan.
In subtropical Taiwan, lush forests cover about 60 percent of the main island, embracing and nudging their way into urban areas. In just such a place, at the verdant edge of central Taiwan’s Taichung City, the Dongshih Forest District Office (DFDO) hosted a ceremony in February to launch a building restoration project in Dongshih Forestry Culture Park (DFCP). Such parks, which fall within the purview of the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture’s Forestry Bureau, simultaneously preserve the history of logging in Taiwan and guide visitors to examine the industry’s cultural, economic and environmental impact.
Officials from the city government were present at the event, reinforcing Taichung’s 2019 commitment to revitalizing the park as a valued cultural landscape under the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. The task is unique at Dongshih, which, according to DFDO Director Chang Hung-yi (張弘毅), was constructed in 1959 and thus adopted logging and processing methods from the U.S. instead of using the Japanese rail-based logging practices introduced during the colonial era (1895-1945). The workshop undergoing refurbishment demonstrates a key difference, as it was responsible for maintaining and repairing vehicles and machinery for Tashueshan Forestry Co. (TSSFC). During the 1960s and early 1970s, workers at the facility labored through the night to check and prepare the company’s trucks before their pre-dawn departures for the logging zones in what are now Dasyueshan and Basianshan recreation areas. The firm ceased operation in 1973 and around 17 hectares of its land was later designated as a forestry culture park and opened to the public in 2013.
Trucks transport logs at a site managed by Tashueshan Forestry Co. (Photo courtesy of Dongshih Forest District Office)
The ongoing restoration work for DFCP’s former truck maintenance center, with a budget of NT$55.8 million (US$1.8 million), is slated for completion in March 2024 as part of the Forestry Bureau’s Conservation and Redevelopment Program of Forestry Cultural Resources. The DFCP project also includes the refurbishment of other facilities including the lumber mill, log ramp, wood chip bin, refuse storage shed and boiler room. When they were still active, these TSSFC facilities were an economic powerhouse for Dongshih and neighboring Fengyuan, supplying material for paper manufacturers and furniture makers. “Industrial roots are an integral part of a place’s historical and cultural legacy as well as its community development,” Chang said.
New Life
The renovation project has already finished work on the site’s former auditorium and lumberyard office, which now serve as spaces for exhibitions and refreshment. What was once the TSSFC log storage pool has been converted to an ecology education site through the introduction of native water plants that make it an attractive resting place for wild birds, all surrounded by a wooden walkway approximately a kilometer in length. A deeper section of the pond has been set aside to demonstrate its original purpose: storage that protected valuable logs from cracking, corrosion and insects. “Floating wood was also easier to move,” Chang explained. Communicating Dongshih’s historical dimension is important to the district office director, who articulated his vision for the log pool. “We want to retain a piece of history for visitors to explore, even as they enjoy a leisurely walk beside the pleasant waters,” he said.
Former TSSFC facilities including the refuse storage shed (above) and boiler room are kept in good condition by DFCP staff. (Photos by Pang Chia-shan)
Presenting a substantial, balanced narrative of Dongshih’s past and present by incorporating its logging origins is a key goal for the park. Relevant archives are currently being restored and digitized in collaboration with the National Museum of Taiwan History in the southern city of Tainan. The park is also cooperating with Hung Kuang-chi (洪廣冀) from the Department of Geography at Taipei City-based National Taiwan University on a project combing through historical surveys dating to TSSFC’s preparatory work in the early 1950s. The associate professor, who specializes in environmental history in the area of science, technology and society, has published papers that explore the scientific management and industrialization of Taiwan’s lumber production from the Japanese era to the postwar period as economic drivers for the country’s development. His team’s research on TSSFC’s history will also be used to organize educational exhibitions at DFCP after its release scheduled for June 2024.
Crafting Creatives
Another key focus at DFCP is building a pool of skilled woodworkers. In this respect, the park’s proximity to a nearby school is a boon. The partnership with Dongshih Industrial High School dates to the 1950s, when the institution responded to TSSFC’s commercial exploration of the area by starting lumber production and woodworking courses. “This decision was clear evidence of the close links between vocational education, local economy and business growth,” Chang said, adding that the relationship was further strengthened when the school relocated to 10 hectares that had formerly been under the company’s control after its previous campus was damaged extensively in the devastating earthquake of Sept. 21, 1999. The school’s principal, Chou Wen-sung (周文松), expressed his appreciation for the close historical relationship that facilitated the move.
A wooden cabin contains information boards that explain national policy to increase the use of locally grown wood. (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)
When the government renewed its curricular guidelines for the 12-year basic education program in 2019, the school invited input from the forestry district office on interdisciplinary teaching and experiential learning in art design, carpentry, forestry culture and regional revitalization. In recognition of the connection between the park and the school, Chou pointed to the impressive resources such as locally grown wood that are available to his students. Chang, the district office director, also noted that the park’s exhibition spaces, besides displaying local woodcarving and other historical and educational content, are used to showcase the results of internships and other successful academic work in relevant fields.
Central Destination
In addition to the opportunities DFCP offers on the educational front, the park also has the capacity for development in the cultural and tourism sectors according to experts like Huang Cheng-tsung (黃正聰), associate professor in the Department of Tourism at Providence University in Taichung. In his role as chair of the Taichung-based Central Taiwan Tourism Association, Huang is glad to see the government conserving historical assets in Dongshih and transforming the park into a living museum of Taichung’s economic past. Huang added that, due to its location midway between national highways in western Taichung and the national forest recreation areas in Basianshan and Dasyueshan on the eastern side of the city, DFCP is well situated to draw in tourists en route to major sightseeing destinations.
Visitors to DFCP stroll along a wooden walkway encircling the former log pond that offers both a glimpse of the park’s history and a vision of its future as a restored ecological site. (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)
Huang believes that new investments in accommodation and other services will help the park capitalize on its advantageous position. DFDO is taking inventories of local tourism resources along the Central Cross-Island Highway, which extends from Dongshih to eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County, to incorporate them into Dongshih Forestry District and DFCP. Other plans include integration of Dasyueshan Forest Road, opened in 1958 and primarily used by the newly established TSSFC. The 56-km route has a new purpose these days: to expand ecotourism and push for community regeneration from DFCP to Dasyueshan National Forest Recreation Area. “Environmentally friendly approaches that focus on local natural and cultural highlights are a sustainable development model for tourism and regional growth,” Chang said. “The road that once permitted the area’s economic boom by transporting its resources away can now usher the world back into recovering forests to share vital lessons about humanity’s relationship with nature.”
Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw