A visit to a world-class wonder—Qilan Mountain’s cypress forest
“It was winter, 1986. I was with my colleague on Qilan Mountain studying the cypress forest in the snow. As we finished up and stepped out of the woods, the sky suddenly cleared. Fog turned into wisps of mist lit by golden sunshine. It was as beautiful as an oil painting!” recalls Chen Tze-ying of the Department of Natural Resources at National Ilan University of his first encounter with the forest in the Qilan area.
The world has six species of cypress left and Qilan Mountain in northern Taiwan is home to two of them—the Taiwan red cypress and Taiwan yellow cypress. It is also the habitat of many “living fossil” trees, including specimens of Taiwania and luanta fir. Deep in the forest, some of those trees are more than 1,000 years old and stand tall, reaching up high into the sky, making Qilan a potential World Heritage site.
It is said that Qilan, which means “orchid-growing” in Chinese, earned its name for the abundance of orchids that grow on the trees in the forest. Cypress forests, once abundant millions of years ago, have since succumbed to evolution, the ice age and the Earth’s changing environment. Their population has shrunk and they are now found only on the west coast of North America and in Japan and Taiwan. In recognition of their rarity, Qilan is now a protected area for cypress.
Studies show that the cypress might have originated in North America and spread to Taiwan through Japan. Thus, some see the Taiwan yellow cypress as a variant of Japan’s yellow cypress. Taiwan has two cypress species—Chamaecyparis obtusa var. formosana (yellow cypress) and Chamaecyparis formosensis Matsum (red cypress). Both grow mostly at altitudes between 1,200 and 2,600 meters. The two species have similar growth ranges, but better resistance to infertile soil and humidity allows red cypress to grow in humid valleys mostly from 1,200 to 2,200 meters, while yellow cypress finds a home on steep mountains between 1,500 and 2,600 meters. Qilan Mountain is home to both. The two species can be easily distinguished by their leaves as red cypress has more branches and pointed leaves, while yellow cypress has fewer branches and rounder leaves.
Pleione formosana Hayata is a native orchid found in the mountains of Taiwan. (Courtesy of Chen Tze-Ying)
The trees secrete small amounts of rare substances from which fragrances are extracted and made into essential oils that are sold widely. Cypress is thought to give off an aroma that alleviates fatigue and the hinokitiol found in cypress protects it from decay and termites. These properties combined with the elegant texture of the tree’s wood have always ensured the place of cypress as a precious forest resource.
Divine Trees
Located along Forest Road Route 100 at an altitude of 1,760 meters, the Qilan Divine Trees Zone is one of the major tourist attractions of Qilan Mountain. At the end of a gravel path stands an endless cypress forest where these 1,000-year-old trees crouch, wind around each other or simply stand straight, enduring as the ages go by. The Forest Conservation and Management Administration (FCMA) has named many of the giant trees after famous historical figures according to the age of each tree.
Chen Tze-ying says that the trees normally grow very slowly, so that an increase of 20 to 30 centimeters in diameter could take four or five decades. A tree’s age can be determined by radioactive isotope, X-ray or a growth core, which is the most widely used measuring device. This is done by twisting a borer into the trunk, extracting a sample and counting the number of growth rings in it.
Nevertheless, it is hard to tell exactly how old the trees are. In a tree protection plan started in 1990, the government prioritized trees of higher age, greater diameter or of cultural and historical uniqueness. Trees more than 100 years old were designated as “old trees,” while internationally “giant trees” are defined by tree diameter and height. Taiwan’s indigenous peoples have long worshiped old-age giant trees as “divine trees” to show their respect for them.
Management of the forest on Qilan Mountain now focuses on planning for the entire ecosystem. (Photo by Dai Jin-yuan)
In addition to the precious cypress forest, Qilan Mountain is also home to many other protected species such as Taiwan sassafras, the Pleione formosana Hayata orchid, and Taiwania. Taiwan sassafras grows between 900 and 2,400 meters in broadleaf-conifer mixed areas on Qilan Mountain. The plant is one of Taiwan’s rarest species and has only three sub-species globally. It is also the only host plant for the broad-tailed swallowtail butterfly—an endangered species deemed one of Taiwan’s treasures.
Pleione formosana Hayata is an orchid native to Taiwan. It is not easily grown in low-altitude areas, rarely seen in the wild, and is a unique part of Qilan Mountain’s beauty. Taiwania is the only gymnosperm named after Taiwan and is listed along with ginkgo and the giant sequoia as one of the world’s most representative “living fossils.” Visiting Japanese scholars have rated Taiwania as equally qualified for world heritage status as cypress.
Before Japan’s colonization of Taiwan (1895–1945) the island’s cypress forests were not logged. The Japanese found Taiwan’s cypress of excellent quality and thus used all means to exploit this natural resource. In 1912, the Japanese began heavy logging in Taiwan’s three largest cypress forests of Alishan, Taipingshan and Baxianshan, with logs shipped back to Japan. Later the Kuomingtang continued massive logging. Today, several of Taiwan’s early railway stations such as those at Jiji and Checheng in Nantou County, central Taiwan and Baoan in Tainan, southern Taiwan are cypress buildings of historic value.
As economic prosperity grew, so did concern over Taiwan’s dwindling forests with the result that the government banned cypress logging in 1990 and the logging of all natural forests in 1991. Since then, the government and the public have striven to protect cypress for its ecological and economic value.
Sparganium fallax Graebner, one of Taiwan’s very rare plants, can be found growing at the edges of Yuanyang Lake neighboring Qilan Mountain. (Photo by Chen De-hong)
“Although public, private and indigenous agencies all have different ideas on exactly how best to conserve Qilan Mountain’s forest, their views on the need for preservation are similar,” Chen says. “After years of work, most of us have reached a rough consensus on eco-conservation, though arguments still break out at times. Even the US national park and forestry authorities sometimes argue because of differing laws and land management methods. But efficient coordination and execution by higher levels is key to the sustainability of our valuable forests.”
On the conservation of Qilan Mountain’s forest, the FCMA under the Executive Yuan’s Veterans Affairs Commission now focuses on planning for the entire ecosystem and integrates tourism, environmental education and ecological research to allow tourists to enjoy the forest and learn of its value.
Shared Treasure
The May chang tree is another species abundant on Qilan Mountain. The Atayal tribe calls it magao and thus also calls Qilan Mountain “Magao Mountain.” Magao usually grows in summer and can be used as a seasoning. Since it is rarely found near settlements, when a tribesperson finds it he or she shares with everyone. For the Atayal, magao is a shared treasure and a spiritual symbol that brings the tribe closer together.
Hopefully, Taiwan’s remaining cypress forests will gain listing as World Heritage sites and show the beauty of Taiwan’s natural landscape to the world. Now that the FCMA focuses on planning for the entire ecosystem in the area and forestry agencies also stress the sustainable development and conservation of the forest ecosystem, the area has also been marked as an important habitat for animals. Taiwan’s Construction and Planning Agency under the Ministry of the Interior has listened to opinions from all sectors and formulated a “Magao National Park” management plan, which focuses on the area’s industries, planning, organization and ecosystems. The agencies hope to find the best practice for land use and resource conservation to meet current needs and preserve these assets for future generations.
“Reasonable usage and proper preservation ensure the sustainability of natural resources,” says National Ilan University’s Chen Tze-ying. “To protect natural resources, we can’t just shut them off from the outside world. What’s important is to maximize the value of each usable bit of them.”
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This is the revised text of an article from the March 2009 issue of National Park Quarterly.