Tree removal effort triggers clash

Tree removal effort triggers clash
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/06/22/2003565397

GREEN GUARDIANS:Activists tied themselves together in an attempt to stop workers from digging up trees on the campus of a New Taipei City school

By Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Clashes broke out between “tree protection” volunteers and police at New Taipei Municipal Chiang-Tsui Junior High School yesterday morning after construction workers arrived to remove trees for a construction project on the campus.

The plan to remove 32 trees from the school to build a swimming pool and underground parking lot has been criticized strongly by nearby residents, teachers and environmentalists, who say the campus’ “sea of trees” is the only piece of green with trees in the neighborhood.

Twenty-six of the trees are to be moved to another park, while six would be replanted in the area after the construction work is completed.

“Tree protection” volunteers have been tree-sitting since March, after activists said construction workers were using what they considered inappropriate methods, including over-trimming, to remove the trees. Environmentalist Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆) staged a sit-in in one of the trees for 12 days before being taken down by the police in late March.

Screaming and yelling was heard yesterday as several volunteers tried to block a truck from entering the campus by standing in front of it. Scuffles then broke out when volunteers who had tied themselves together to protect the trees were forcibly removed by police officers.

Shouting “Disrespect for judiciary, damaging the rule of law,” Green Party Taiwan members Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) and Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘), and a volunteer surnamed Chen (陳) were taken away by police for allegedly “committing malfeasance in office.”

The volunteers said removing the old trees in hot weather and in a rough manner could kill them.

Pan Han-chiang said one of eight trees that were removed earlier has died, while seven others were seriously damaged, which is why the volunteers were so determined to protect the remaining trees.

The New Taipei City’s (新北市) Public Works Department said in a press release that it was conducting the tree removal effort like “marrying off daughter” (嫁女兒) in an effort to improve the environment.

It said the operation was being conducted with the help of specialists.

It said it had reevaluated the tree removal plan to ensure appropriate protection measures were being taken, and that records would be kept during the process.

The plan is to finish the operation in five days and the public is welcome to oversee the process, the department said.

Police remove man from tree after 12 day protest

Police remove man from tree after 12 day protest
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/04/09/2003559187
By Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

After 12 days of “tree-sitting” by environmentalist Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆) to protect trees at New Taipei City’s (新北市) Chiang-Tsui Junior High School, Pan was yesterday forcibly removed from the tree, while two other activists were taken into custody.

Pan climbed up a tree on March 28 in a bid to protect 32 trees scheduled for removal because of a municipal project to build a swimming pool and underground parking lot on the campus. Tree protection volunteers and Green Party Taiwan members took turns to support him.

The city government rejected the volunteers’ suggestion of reducing the number of trees to be removed and saving a large proportion of the construction budget by reducing what they said was unnecessary construction work.

After 268 hours in the tree, Pan was removed by police officers at about 11am yesterday and sent to hospital.

“I will use all my strength and will to the last minute to protect the ‘sea of trees’ and the community’s old memories with the goal of keeping the trees where they are now and stopping the inappropriate construction work,” Pan said last week.

Video clips showed that before the police reached Pan with an aerial ladder, two construction workers had climbed onto the tree and shaken the higher branches that Pan climbed onto, causing the volunteers to protest against actions that may have put Pan in danger.

Green Party Taiwan members Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) and Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) were taken away by the police for questioning, because they were said to be violating the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).

Other volunteers said they were only holding signs bearing protest messages.

Activists take turns to occupy trees By Lee I-chia / Taipei Times Staff reporter

Activists take turns to occupy trees  
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/03/30/2003558368
By Lee I-chia  /  Taipei Times Staff reporter


Since Thursday morning, environmentalists and a retired high-school teacher have been taking turns sitting in and hugging trees at New Taipei Municipal Chiang-Tsui Junior High School, protesting against measures to remove 32 trees for a public construction project on the campus.

For the past six years, a proposed swimming pool and underground parking lot in an area with dozens of old trees on the campus in New Taipei City (新北市) has been a controversial issue, as a city councilor and the school’s president support the project, while many nearby residents, teachers and environmentalists are against the destruction of the “sea of trees.”

On Thursday morning, Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆), head of a tree protection volunteer group, climbed into a banyan tree with Green Party Taiwan member and local resident Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘).

They remained there overnight in heavy rain, faced with police who were trying to remove them, but supported by local residents, who brought them food.

At 6am yesterday, a retired teacher from the school, Chen Tsai-luan (鄭彩鑾), climbed up the tree and took a turn “tree sitting” as Wang climbed down.

As of 7pm yesterday, Pan had been sitting in the tree for 37 hours.

The Green Party Taiwan said construction workers began to remove the trees on Tuesday, but were forced to stop by the city’s agriculture department for violating standards. The workers continued sawing down the trees on Wednesday, so the volunteers said they had no other option but to try and protect the 32 trees that are due to be removed.

“The tree removal plan is unprofessional, the survival rate of the trees will become very low once their roots are damaged, but the agricultural department did not do anything to rescue the trees,” Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) of the Green Party Taiwan said, adding that hurting the trees is a terrible example to set the school’s students.

Members of the tree protection volunteer group said there are already enough parking spaces in the nearby area and that the construction project would destroy the “Small Vienna Forrest” — local residents’ nickname for the area — which is the only piece of green land with trees in the whole neighborhood.

An official from the city’s agriculture department said yesterday that an examination of five trees sawed down on Tuesday showed that inappropriate measures had been used to remove them, with too few branches remaining, adding that the trees would be treated to try and save them.

Leave them alone, treehuggers tell school

Leave them alone, treehuggers tell school
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2013/03/30/374575/Leave-them.htm

By Lauly Li, The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- After hugging an old tree on a New Taipei campus for over 35 hours, Green Party member Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) yesterday traded turns with two other volunteers in a bid to keep the tree from being pruned by the school.

There are 27 trees on the campus that the school intends to trim before transplanting them to another district, Jiangcui Junior High School (江翠國中) principle Kuo Yueh-hsiu (郭月秀) said yesterday.

Kuo said that the school filed an application with the New Taipei City Government before commencing the pruning.

A city government official, Chen Yuan-chuan (陳淵泉), confirmed that the school had sent a proposal for New Taipei to review; however, the school did not report when it began to trim the trees.

Former Jiangcui Junior High School employee Cheng Tsai-luan (鄭彩鑾) and other former colleagues recently created the Rescue Jiangcui Old Trees group specifically to protect the trees on the campus.

Cheng said that some of the trees have suffered from overtrimming, which has left them ugly without tree branches or leaves. She said the way the school treated the trees was brutal and a negative demonstration to students.

Cheng and other members wore headbands and raised banners on Wednesday in front of the school, urging it to stop trimming the trees.

Police raised banners and warned Cheng and other group members that their gathering was against assembly laws.

In a last-ditch attempt to save the trees from overpruning, volunteer Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆) and Green Party member Wang wore raincoats, opened umbrellas and stayed on one of the tree throughout Thursday night, despite the chilly breeze and thunderstorms. Police and firefighters inflated a large air cushion beneath the tree where Pan and Wang were staying and tried to persuade them to come down.

The authorities left before midnight.

On a visit to the school on Wednesday, Department of Agriculture (DOA) officials discovered that some of the trees had been excessively pruned, according to Chen.

The DOA officials asked the workers to halt operations at once, cover the trees and apply treatments on the trunks. Chen said.