Plant trees and love the Earth: mayor calls for environmental awareness
Plant trees and love the Earth: mayor calls for environmental awareness
The “2015 New Taipei City Arbor Day Event - Wulai Rhododendron Revival Project” took place this morning (3/15) at the Shiding High School. Mayor Chu attended the event and, along with students, teachers, parents and local residents, planted Wulai Rhododendron inside the school. The event was a part of the city's effort to call to all citizens to be involved in caring for the environment. The mayor said that although, officially, 3/12 is Arbor Day, we should treat each day as Arbor Day and take good care of our environment.
The mayor said, ten years ago, the development of the Feitsui Dam almost led to the extinction of the local Rhododendron. After ten years of effort in trying to revive the plant specie, there are now more than 20,000 Rhododendron trees. On this year's Arbor Day, New Taipei City Government is planting 5,000 additional wild Wulai Rhododendron along the upstream banks of the Beishi River. The city government hopes to bring Rhododendron revival to river bank.
The Agriculture Department reports that since the flooding of the local wildlife habitat during Feitsui Dam’s development in 1984, Wulai Rhododendron began to disappear in the wild, and only cultivated samples are left. The Council of Agriculture had designated the plant as “Extinct-in-the-wild.” To save it from extinction, asexual reproduction through cutting was performed and 20,000 of the resulting samples were planted along the funneling area of the Feitsui Dam.
The Agriculture Department said that it plans to continue the revival-in-the-wild project in Xindian’s Erbazi Arboretum, Wulai Falls Park and along major roads in Shiding. The department hopes that through this project, more citizen will come to know the importance of Wulai Rhododendron revival and the population of the plant will reach natural stabilization.
For more information: Agriculture Department, Chen Pingxian, Tel: 1999 or (02)2960-3456 ext. 2923