At the end of 2017, the Chiayi Forest District Office fully recovered 160 hectares of wasabi plantations in the Alishan area, and carried out restoration and afforestation work successively. The long-term application of fertilizers and pesticides in the wasabi plantations led to soil acidification, nutrient imbalance, and pest and disease hazards. This indirectly affected the afforestation progress and posed many challenges for afforestation techniques. In order to overcome this issue, the Chiayi Forest District Office readjusted the afforestation method. For the first time, measures to promote forest growth, including the use of symbiotic fungi and soil conditioners, were adopted. After two years of efforts, the overall afforestation survival rate is over 85%, showing significant positive results.
The recovered wasabi plantations were mostly plots of different sizes with porous soil, and showed signs of soil acidification. When planning afforestation, the Chiayi Forest District Office adhered to the principle of planting the right crops for the right environment. In addition to the Taiwan red Falsecypress (Chamaecyparis formosensis) and Taiwan Hinoki Falsecypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa var. formosana), shade-tolerant trees such as Formosan magnolia (Magnolia compressa), Arisan oak (Quercus salicina), and Mori oak (Quercus morii) were also planted. Furthermore, unlike traditional afforestation models, soil conditioners such as peat, perlite, and gravel were added to the planting holes for the first time to jointly improve soil quality, and increase water and air permeability. Symbiotic fungi were also added to improve nutrient absorption by the root system of afforested trees, while the impact of climbing weeds was also reduced through regular tending work. Through the above measures, the results of afforestation have indeed been effectively improved, with the Formosan magnolia showing the best growth rate and survival rate, growing from the original 90 cm to 210 cm in two years. In addition, the shade-tolerant trees, such as the Arisan oak and Mori oak, have also had excellent growth performance. In the process of tree species selection, improvement of the planting environment, and regular tending, the integration of new afforestation techniques shortened the afforestation period and created a healthy forest.
The Chiayi Forest District Office said that the restoration and afforestation of degraded land are difficult tasks. Through timely introduction of new afforestation techniques and the establishment of operational procedures for degraded land restoration and afforestation, afforestation models were optimized, the effectiveness of afforestation increased, and the pace of restoration accelerated, thereby ensuring the completeness of forest coverage. These are all ways to achieve forest management objectives, including water conservation, homeland security, and ecosystem balance.
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