Principles for Ecological Afforestation Operations

Taiwan’s complex terrain and diverse environment support a wide variety of species. When carrying out ecological afforestation, the selection of tree species and planting methods must be adjusted according to local conditions. Ecological theories and principles should be applied, with ecological thinking embedded throughout the process. These principles are established to guide the implementation of the “Terrestrial Priority Area Ecological Vegetation Restoration Project” under the “National Ecological Conservation Green Network Development Plan,” serving as a reference for branch offices and other agencies undertaking ecological afforestation work. The principles are as follows:

1. Scope of application for ecological afforestation (Point 1).

2. Concepts, characteristics, ecological perspectives, and objectives of ecological afforestation, with the goal of creating healthy, diverse, and mixed forests capable of continuous self-renewal (Point 2).

3. Assessing and determining the appropriate level of human intervention, utilizing minimal intervention approaches wherever possible to facilitate natural succession processes (Point 3).

4. Understanding the ecological afforestation environment and the interactions between environmental factors, conducting environmental analysis, and assessing the necessity of improving physical site conditions (Point 4).

5. Collecting local ecological afforestation species data and principles for species selection (Point 5).

6. Establishing information about the phenology of mother trees, implementing multi-site and multi-mother tree seed collection, and making plans for increasing intra-species diversity and nursery propagation (Point 6).

7. Flexible planting arrangements and habitat diversification planning, including principles for selecting framework tree species (Point 7). 8. Suitable afforestation seasons (Point 8).

9. Land preparation and planting methods, which may include afforestation, direct seeding, or a combination of both (Point 9).

10. Retaining and assisting natural regeneration of native seedings (Point 10).

11. Monitoring items after ecological afforestation and subsequent adjustments (Point 11).

12. Enrichment planting during the stand development of new plantations, using diverse species to improve forest quality and enhance richness (Point 12).

13. Necessity of tending, as well as circumstances for reduction or appropriate adjustment (Point 13).