‘Recklessness in Taichung Series’ – Old tree dies, who’s to blame?

On 9th November 2010, the citizen journalist journeyed to ZhenPing Alley in Nanchun, Taichung City, where a 100-year-old banyan tree was spotted. Just over a year later, to their painful surprise, all that was left was a stump! Taichung City has just passed a new tree protection bylaw that has yet to be officially announced. Before 2010, the former Taichung County recognized 104 old trees, 49 of which were in Taichung City. However, in 2010, the original Taichung City recognized a further 72 but failed to announce this. Taichung County and City have been merged now for a year and a half, and it is clear that the government was allocated funds to protect trees. The funds amount to 1million and 15 million NTD for last year and this year respectively. However, as of yet, none of this funding has been put to good use.

The citizen journalist received a call from an anxious citizen informing him that an excavator was in the process of digging up a banyan tree. After rushing to the scene, the CJ found local ZhenPing Vilage residents surrounding the old tree. The CJ recounted that on taking the shot, they were deeply affected by the scene that lay before them - the scarlet red fluid dripping from the wound of the old tree and trickling onto the earth below. It resembled a human, with limbs severed dying before them. The CJ immediately contacted The Tree Conservation Society of Taiwan to see if anything could be done. At the same time, it became clear that this 100-year-old banyan tree was not listed by the Agriculture Department, which may be why it met with such a terrible fate.

The Landscape Department from Construction Bureau of Taichung City Government expressed that as the tree was inclined at around 50 degree, and the roots were deeply imbedded in the embankment, it would cause damage to the embankment. The local village head felt that with the typhoon season approaching the tree posed a threat, and so informed the local government office to ‘deal with’ the problem. The CJ feels strongly that the previous reasons were not acceptable grounds for cutting down a 100-year-old tree, and believes that the average citizen of Taiwan will be horrified by these actions.

PeoPo 公民新聞

‘Recklessness in Taichung Series’ – Old tree dies, who’s to blame?
URL: http://www.peopo.org/news/95900

(以下是中文對照)

【台中胡亂鏟系列】老樹已死 兇手是誰？ ( 傅東森 )

2010 年11月9日公民記者來到台中縣南屯鎮平巷，在鎮平巷遇上了一棵百年老榕樹，一年多後卻發現，在2012年5月23日，這棵百年老榕樹慘遭斷頭！台中市剛 通過的樹木保護自治條例尚未公告，民國99年以前原中縣列管老樹104棵，中市49棵，但99年原中市再認列72棵，卻遲未公告，縣市合併1年半，市府明 明在去年和今年各編100萬和1500萬元的珍貴老樹保護經費，卻沒實際作為。

公民記者接到電話通知，友人急迫的說：挖土機要把老榕樹連 根剷除！趕到老榕樹那，鎮平里的居民圍繞在旁邊，對著老榕樹按下快門那一剎那，被鋸開的切面鮮紅的顏色，跟地上的那攤水，活像被活活剖開的人體般令人膽 顫！接著聯絡台灣愛樹保育協會去看老榕樹，看如何拯救，同時也確定這棵百年老榕樹並沒有被農業局列管，所以命運尚處未知狀態。

台中市政府建設局景觀科表示：這棵樹傾斜約五十度，樹根又深入護岸，導致護岸破碎，當地里長認為有危險之虞，尤其颱風季節又快到了，因此通報市府處理！不過，以上這兩個理由，要砍掉百年老榕樹，民眾普遍無法接受。

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