202501/11
The Pingtung Branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (FANCA Pingtung) held a documentary screening and seminar for Sanlika in Taipei on January 10. The documentary, screened in northern Taiwan, showcased the exciting stories of the country's southern mountains and forests, attracting over 170 participants. The documentary and seminar focused on the period from 1965 to 1976, when Taiwan accepted aid from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and implemented the "timber stand conversion" policy in several national forest compartments across Taiwan. Among them, the mountains and forests in Shuangliu, Shihzih Township, Pingtung, which had experienced large-scale deforestation, were converted into plantation forests. As a result, many members of indigenous communities at the time gained a source of stable income due to their participation in this work.
Yang Jui-Fen, Director of FANCA Pingtung, said that the predecessor of FANCA Pingtung was merged from the “Hengchun Forest District Office” and the “Nannong Forest District Office (Kaohsiung Region)” under the Department of Agriculture during the Taiwan Provincial Government era. The documentary screened today (01/10) is part of the research results on the timber stand conversion history in the Shuangliu area of Shihzih Township under the jurisdiction of the Hengchun Forest District Office from 1965 to 1976. The original forest physiognomy was changed after periods of large-scale logging and afforestation. Now it has transformed once again to become a popular and widely-visited national forest recreation area. With each era's forestry policies designed to meet specific needs and purposes, the implementation of the "Timber Stand Conversion" policy was launched by the government with funding from the WFP to develop the national economy and stabilize society. Not only did it leave a deep impression on the careers of the forestry personnel of the time, it also had a profound impact on the labor history of indigenous people, where members of indigenous communities became an important labor force that worked in forest compartments across Taiwan. Although grassroots farmers and workers were able to obtain a stable income as a result, Taiwan's forestry policies have long since evolved towards ecological and sustainable development, and only by carrying out responsible forest production in plantation forests can we ensure that there will be no backtracking to more timber stand conversion.
Associate Professor Hung Kuang-Chi of the Department of Geography at National Taiwan University shared his views at the forum, where he explained that the term "timber stand conversion" was borrowed from Japan, and likened the practice to tearing down Taiwan’s natural forests and replanting to transform them into plantations optimized for timber production. He believes that at the time, under the advice of U.S. aid experts based on the economic practice of forestry production in temperate regions, logging and afforestation were started on an unprecedentedly large scale in areas such as Shuangliu. This area also became the first timber stand conversion experimental site transformed into a recreational area. Associate Professor Hung added that this policy dramatically changed Taiwan’s landscape, opening a significant chapter in its environmental history, and the experiences gained offer valuable lessons for today.
Assistant Professor Tjuku Ruljigaljig at National Pingtung University, who was born in Shihzih Township, discussed the impact of the timber stand conversion policy on the indigenous communities from the perspective of the indigenous people. Her research found that many members of tribal communities in Pingtung were once part of the so-called "forest compartment generation" and played an important role in the large-scale timber stand conversion plan. The economic situation improved for some of these tribal members, even allowing them to move to Chaozhou, Pingtung, and became what the tribal communities referred to as the "Chaozhou Bang." She also recovered the common culture and memories that many tribal communities had forgotten from her research on southern Taiwan’s forestry history. She expressed great pride in the Shihzih Township tribe's mastery of forest compartment songs, which developed during this period. However, she was also of the opinion that since the Japanese colonial era until the 1970s there was a rift in indigenous traditional culture due to government policies that restricted the land rights of indigenous people. Mutual understanding and more time and effort will be required to bring about change.
One of the main characters in the documentary is Mulaneng Pljadrek, an indigenous elder from Shihzih Township. He was also present at the event and shared that although the tribal community members earned a considerable income from forestry work at the time, they had no idea what consequences timber stand conversion would bring. He said with regret that the biggest impact was that the local landscape and hydrology system had changed. He also agreed that the destruction of the Paiwan social structure since the Japanese colonial era caused a breach in traditional wisdom and knowledge.
FANCA Pingtung has been researching and recording forestry history in southern Taiwan since 2022. It is expected that within 5 years, FANCA Pingtung will document the modern forestry transformation and timber stand conversion period, tracing its history back to the early post-World War II period, the Japanese colonial period, and the Qing Dynasty era from 1992 to 1683. In 2024, the research team from National Taiwan University, among others, further explored the history of timber stand conversion in Liugui and Maolin under the jurisdiction of the now defunct Nannong Forest District Office. The topography, climate, and cultural conditions of the Nannong forest area differ from those of the Hengchun forest area, which means that more exciting stories of the southern Taiwan mountain forests will be discovered. In the future, some of these mesmerizing tales will be presented to the public in the form of documentaries.