Rescue Chi-Lan Formosan Cedar Forest in Taiwan
12/17/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Rescue Chi-Lan Formosan Cedar Forest
Source: The Green Project for the Millenium
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 17, 1999
Byline: Jeff Hou
URGENT! ENDORSEMENT REQUEST -- *PLEASE REPLY IMMEDIATELY TO
with your name, title, and
organization. We are seeking both individual and organizational
endorsements.
Rescue Chi-Lan Formosan Cedar* Forest -- The Green Project for the
Millenium
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Please help us to protect the World's original old growth forest in
Taiwan.
The Chi-Lan Formosan Cedar Forest has existed on Taiwan for millions
of years. We now desperately need your attention and support to make
sure it will be securely preserved for the many milleniums to come.
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Dear Friends,
Rainforest destruction doesn't happen in some place faraway.
In fact, you can see what's happening to the world's last wild
rainforest right where you live: at your local home improvement store
or lumberyard. Walking down the aisles of Megan lumber retailer is
like walking through a rainforest graveyard. Hemlock, cypress and
cedar from high mountains of sub-tropical or high attitude rainforest
of North America. Tropical hardwoods from Southeast Asia. We need to
stop selling woods from endangered old growth forests. We need you to
take a few moments right now to sign the enclosed letter for us.
Please help us to protect the World's original old growth forest --
Taiwan Cedar. It is a tall, precious and indigenous coniferous true
cedar known especially for its fragrance and durability.
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The Chi-Lan Formosan Cedar Forest has existed on Taiwan for millions
of years. We now desperately need your attention and support to make
sure it will be securely preserved for the many milleniums to come.
Located in northern Taiwan, the Chi-Lan Formosan Cedar Forest covers
an area of 20,000 hectares (49420 acres) and is now the only one of
such size left on the earth. It is warm-temperate conifer populated
with indigenous Taiwanese Chamaecyparis Thuja. Chi-Lan Formosan Cedar
Forest is also a land of live fossil ecosystem dated from the glacier
period. Situated at the upper stream of Shimen Dam, the forest is the
source of water for five northern counties in Taiwan. Almost half of
Taiwan's population and ecology depend on this water source. The area
meets all the qualifications of being included in UNESCO's (United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) World
Heritage List.
However, the Taiwanese government has not done its job in preservation
of this magnificent land. For many decades before the environmental
movement began, it has allowed logging without regulation, causing the
forest to shrink in size. Since the last decade, environmentalists
have successfully pushed for legislation regulating logging, but the
results are not encouraging. The government's half-hearted
regulations contain too many loopholes, and the enforcement has been
lax. And now, the government wants to "clean up" the forest by
cutting down whichever trees it deems unfit to survive.
We feel that the only way to preserve this land for the long term is
to have Chi-Lan Forest declared a National Park. The United States'
"Sequoia National Park" with its multiple functions of environmental
conservation, research, and education, would be a good model for Chi-
Lan mountain's rare Formosan Cedar forest. So far, more than 100,000
signatures from environmental groups and individuals have been
collected in support of this campaign. Magistrates and mayors of six
counties and cities surrounding the forestry, including Taipei, the
capital, have also given their endorsement to this campaign. Because
of these actions, the Council of Agriculture finally stopped their
third planned "clean up", and the forest has been temporarily saved.
But Chi-Lan forest is not safe yet. The situation is urgent, and we
need your help.
We would like to call for the Executive Yuan, the highest
administrative governing body in Taiwan, to approve the project of
Chi-Lan Formosan Cedar National Park immediately. We especially call
for the Executive Yuan to consider announcing the plan by January 1,
2000, and making it a park that commemorates the coming millenium. We
would like to call for the international community. Especially those
in the environmental field, to join in our campaign to save this last
large land of precious Formosan Cedar before it is too late!
To support this campaign, please email to
with your name, title, organization.
Name: ________________________
Title: _______________________
Organization: ________________
Coalition for Chi-Lan Formosan Cedar National Park December, 1999
Web:
E-mail:
(02)-2930-3139, or Fax (02)-2934-6318, or <6438@ms26.hinet.net>
(03)-931-1940, or Fax (03)-935-9152
* Formosan Cedar is a tall coniferous true cedar (as of the genera
Juiperus, Chamaecyparis, or Thuja) especially in the fragrance and
durability of its wood.
------------------------------------------------------ Taiwan
Environmental Action Network (TEAN) http://tean.formosa.org
tean-com@formosa.org