Forest Resources in Taiwan
Jih-Cheng Ru
Director, Agricultural and Forestry Aerial Survey Institute
No 61-3, Chao-chou Street, Taipei, TAIWAN
Tel:(886)-2-23931837 Fax:(886)-2-23931870
E-mail: nn240918@ms19.hinet.net
Taiwan
Keywords : Aerial Photo, Forest Resources, Forest Growing Stock, Biodiversity
Abstract :
The island-wide forest resource inventory has been implemented three times since 1945. Each time the aerial photographs were used for stereo-interpretation, trans-plotting and plot sampling. During the period from July 1990 to June 1993, a total of 32,730 aerial photographs taken by the Agricultural and Forestry Aerial Survey Institute were used for the 3
rd island-wide forest resource inventory. The object of this paper is to introduce the process in aerial photography and present status of the forest rsources in Taiwan.
Forest is the largest ecosystems in land area. The biodiversity and global climate change are closely related to the forest. During this time, the forest resource conservation and sustained yield management play an important role in the nation's policy.
<> Introduction
Four hundred years ago, Taiwan was called "Ihla Formosa "--the beautiful island--for its lustrous landscape. Forests have not only been the home of abundant flora and fauna but also protected the national land, provided the water resource for our daily life and recreation sites. All our basic necessities such as food, water, clothing, housing, transportation, education and recreation are closely related to the forests. Forest resources include the timber resource, water resource, biological resource, recreation resource and other ecological resources etc.
Aerial Photography
The island-wide forest resource inventory has been implemented three times since 1945. Each time the aerial photographs were used for stereo-interpretation, trans-plotting , plot sampling, and data compilation. Prior to the implementation of the island-wide forest resource inventory, aerial photography must be taken covering all of Taiwan. During the period from July 1990 to June 1993, a total of 32,730 aerial photos in panchromatic film, focal length 6", at scale of 1/17,000-1/20,000 taken by the Agricultural and Forestry Aerial Survey Institute were used in the 3rd island-wide forest resource inventory.
The flight line spacing is 2.5 km interval divided into 78 flying lines, north-south covering the entire island. The forward overlap is 60%-90%; side overlap 30%. Among these photographs, a total of 286,925 photo points and 3,996 ground plots were selected by double sampling for computations of land-use, forest area, timber volume, forest soil, wildlife and recreation, forest land classification. The photo base maps both B&W and color at scale of 1/5,000 and 1/10,000 were used as a base map for trans-plotting and field survey.
Investigating works included:
-
Photo point interpretation
- Ground plot Investigation
- Land use type trans-plotting
- Forest soil Investigation and soil map production
- Wildlife and recreation resources inventory
- Establishment of GIS and database
- Establishment of forest land classification
Timber Resources
Forest Land Area
According to the data of the third aerial survey of forest resources in 1995, there are 2,102,400 hectares of forest land occupying 58.53% of the total island base (3,591,500 hectares). The non-forest land area 1,489,100 hectares occupying 41.47%. Among the forest land areas, the conifer forests occupy 438,500ha., or 20.86 %, conifer and hardwood mixed forests 391,200ha., or 18.61 %, hardwood forests 1,120,400ha., or 53.29 % and bamboo forests 152,300ha., or 7.24%. (Table 1)
Table 1 Forest Land in Taiwan
| Land classification | Area (ha) | Percentage (%) |
Forest land
Conifers | 2,102,400
438,500 | 58.53(100.00)
12.21(20.86) |
| Conifers & hardwoods | 391,200 | 10.89(18.61) |
| Hardwoods | 1,120,400 | 31.19(53.29) |
| Bamboo | 152,300 | 4.24(7.24) |
| Non-forest land | 1,489,100 | 41.47 |
| Total | 3,591,500 | 100.00 |
