The people of Taiwan generally despise illegal loggers and poachers, but they might not really understand them. The theme of this year's "International Day of Forests" was "Forests and Education". Following on from the announcement of high-risk areas for illegal logging of state-owned forests by the Forestry Bureau for the first time in 2017, the eve of the International Day of Forests was specially selected to further expose the types and crime hotspots of the illegal loggers and poachers. These information on the targeted forests, which were previously regarded as confidential, will be uploaded to the "Government Website Open Information Announcement Platform" to provide value-added applications for all sectors, so that everyone can join in the "prevention and control" to protect Taiwan's precious natural resources. Illegal loggers and poachers have diverse ways in which to commit crime, and they level of damage they cause to forests also differ. According to Forestry Bureau statistics, between 2011 and 2018, from the analysis of illegal logging and poaching cases in violation of the Forestry Act that took place in state-owned forests under its jurisdiction, the majority was the theft of "tree root residual timber", accounting for 65%; while the most hated by the Taiwanese people, is the logging of "living trees", accounting for 12%; theft of high-priced forest by-products accounted for 11%; theft of valuable driftwood accounts for 9%; and digging for "interesting gardening trees" accounted for 3%. The total number of illegal logging and theft cases has dropped from the peak of nearly 350 cases in 2011 and 2012, to 157 cases in 2018, which was the lowest in eight years. The Forestry Bureau said that from the statistical results, the Forestry Bureau has set up a "Prosecutor and Police Platform" with the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office of the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency of the Ministry of the Interior since 2010 to integrate the investigation and detection resources on illegal logging. In 2015, the Forestry Act was amended and the substantial increase in the punishment of illegal loggers and poachers have caused the situation of the illegal logging to ease slightly. In recent years, more than 300 personnel from the younger generation have joined the ranks of forest guards under the Forestry Bureau, and together with the strict forest patrol mechanism, the difficulty of illegally logging the living trees has increased significantly, causing the illegal loggers to turn their attention to the relatively easier-to-obtain tree root residual timber. According to the Forestry Bureau, the "tree root residual timber" comes from the many tree root bases that were left behind after the logging of virgin forests dating from the Japanese colonial era to 1980s. Among them, the Formosan cypress, Hinoki cypress, and Taiwan Incense-cedar were much favored by the public for their special wood grain and fragrance, and they were sought out to be processed into wooden craftwork. In addition, due to the smaller size of the tree root residual timber, it means that the cutting does not require large machineries, the transportation is convenient, the cost of criminal activity is low, and the profit is high. This has resulted in an influx of illegal loggers and poachers in areas where transport is convenient, such as along Yilan on the North Cross-Island Highway, along the mountainous areas of Fuxing Township in Taoyuan and the North Cross-Island Highway, the mountainous areas of Wufeng and Jianshi in Hsinchu, the mountainous areas of Nanzhuang in Miaoli, the Yashan-Pinglin Road of Sun Link Sea in Nantou's Zhushan Township, Luqu Mountain, Qianren Caves of Fengshan Village in Chiayi County, and along the Alishan Highway in Alishan Township. As for the illegal logging of "living trees", which is the most abhorred by the Taiwanese people, due to the popularity of the Antrodia cinnamomea fungus, most cases of live tree logging are of tree species such as small-flowered camphor tree or Formosan China-fir used for the cultivation of the fungus. The hotspots for the illegal logging of living trees partially overlap with that of tree root residual timber, which are areas where these tree species are found and where the transportation is convenient. In addition, in recent years, there have been a rising number of cases for the illegal logging of Formosa acacia living trees in Qishan, Kaohsiung, where most are sold to be processed into spawn bags for the cultivation of mushrooms. Out of the high-priced forest by-products that are often poached, the Antrodia cinnamomea fungus makes up the majority. These cases frequently take place at the mountainous areas of Wufeng and Jianshi in Hsinchu, the mountainous areas of Nanzhuang in Miaoli, Hongshilin Road in Taitung, and Hualien's Zhongping in Yuli Township and the mountainous areas of Yongfeng in Fuli Township. These poachers usually seek out the Antrodia cinnamomea fungus from the small-flowered camphor tree or Formosan China-fir trunks felled by logging or by the wind in the early days, but often they would cut down century-old small-flowered camphor or Formosan China-fir trees simply to harvest the Antrodia cinnamomea fungus in the tree holes. Poachers of valuable driftwood are usually found by riverbeds downstream from large areas of fallen forests after a storm disaster, waiting for the opportunity to pick up the driftwood. Or they would use machinery to first bury the targeted objects in the riverbed, then transport the items out at night. Areas that are hotspots for these cases include the estuaries of Lanyang River, Tiangou River, and Heping River in Yilan, Shihmen Reservoir in Taoyuan, the upper reaches of Da'an River and Zhuoshui River, and the estuary of Beinan River in Taitung. The poachers of interesting gardening trees are usually found in the Hengchun Peninsula of Pingtung. They seek out orange jessamine, cape jasmine, and subcostate crape myrtle with unique forms, which have been naturally shaped by mountain winds over the years. First, they cut down the tree from the roots then dig out the entire plant, which is then sold at high prices as ornamental garden landscape material to illegal gardening businesses and construction companies. According to the Forestry Bureau, the area of state-owned forest land is over 1.62 million hectares. It is difficult to completely stop the illegal activities by only relying on the forest guards from the government, merely a thousand or so in number. Therefore, apart from the cooperation with the 29 tribal communities around the state-owned forests to protect the mountains and forests, in 2017, the Forestry Bureau also introduced social participation and recruited national forest monitoring volunteers, as well as partnered with mountaineering clubs of colleges and universities to jointly patrol and protect the state-owned forests and improve the effectiveness of protection. Today, the types of illegal loggers and poachers and the crime hotspots have been once again announced. It is hoped that the public will be encouraged to take part in the monitoring and build an escape-proof forest protection network through the cooperation between the government and the people. The Forestry Bureau also reminded that no matter what kind of illegal logger and poacher, there are still bigger criminals behind them involved in getting rid of the evidence and selling the goods, and these large and small criminals can survive because "there are buyers for these things". Therefore, only through not buying precious wood crafts or Antrodia cinnamomea fungus products without a valid source will we be able to eradicate illegal logging and poaching. The Forestry Bureau will be launching a production and marketing verification system for Taiwan wood this year, so that consumers can identify legally harvested wood products and eliminate illegal activities from the source. Toll-free hotline to report illegal logging and poaching activities 0800-000-930.
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