| Summary: | 碩士 === 淡江大學 === 歷史學系碩士班 === 102 === State control didn’t start to play a role in regulating mountain forests in Taiwan until the Japanese occupation of Taiwan (1895–1945). The Japanese Colonial Empire exerted gradual influence on the lands inhabited by indigenous peoples and mountain forests, one of their most valuable natural resources. This paper looks at the historical shift from the period of pre-Japanese rule of Taiwan when mountain forests were not under state control to the occupation period during which policies on mountain forests began to be formed and implemented. This paper also examines the post-colonial era when the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China (R.O.C.) took over the control of mountain forests and greatly changed the development of forestry in Taiwan. Chi-Lan Shan, or Chi-Lan Mountain Forest, is a unique case and of particular interest to this paper. Unlike the other mountain forests in Taiwan, Chi-Lan Shan was not regulated by the Forestry Bureau under the Council of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan, but by the Central Cross-island Highway Forest Development Agency of the Veterans Affairs Council, R.O.C. Established in October 1959, the Forest Development Agency was in charge of the placement of retired veterans from the R.O.C. military while having them develop natural resources along the Central Cross-island Highway. However, voices against the exploitation of mountain forests started to emerge due to increasing environmental awareness, such as the 1987 campaign against illegal logging in Danda Lindao, or Danda Forest Road and the Rescue Chi-Lan Shan Cypress Movement in 1998. Faced with such global awareness on environmental issues, the government decided to adopt and implement new forest policies, with the Veterans Affairs Council shifting its focus from logging and exploitation to conservation and eco-tourism.
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