The Journey Uphill

Riding in a car driven by a young community worker, we slowly wound our way up the twisting mountain road. The path is steep and treacherous, with frequent turns that make it difficult to maintain a sense of direction. Due to the poor road conditions, few companies are willing to transport bamboo from the mountains, but each member of Youshun is an experienced driver, ensuring our safe journey uphill.

After a ten-minute drive from the sorting site, we arrived at Youshun’s managed bamboo forest. The first sight was a bamboo fence crafted from the bamboo harvested here. The narrow paths between the fences were painstakingly carved out by Youshun team members through bamboo clearing. When organizing the bamboo forest or opening new paths, the team typically works in groups of three. The person responsible for cutting bamboo carefully selects the cutting direction, ensuring efficient clearing without unnecessary chopping, which would otherwise waste effort and create a confusing path, complicating the process of transporting bamboo downhill.

Current Condition and Challenges of the Bamboo Forest Management

Upon entering the bamboo forest, the scene is one of disorder. Some bamboo stalks, damaged by monkeys playing on them, have died but remain upright, leaning against live bamboo because they are too crowded to fall. These leaning stalks block the growth space of underground rhizomes, hindering the development of new bamboo shoots. Without contact with soil moisture, the fallen bamboo cannot naturally decompose and return nutrients to the soil, disrupting the bamboo forest’s ecological cycle. Although new bamboo shoots may sprout, they struggle to grow properly under the pressure of their surroundings.

If these fallen bamboo stalks are not managed and stacked properly, they press down on young bamboo plants, depriving them of space to grow. This results in a chaotic and disordered forest that negatively impacts the current and future environment.

After clearing paths to a certain extent, Youshun members engage in thinning operations. The prevailing practice for harvesting bamboo depends on its age, with bamboo aged seven to eight years being optimal for felling. Bamboo age is assessed by color—the greener the bamboo, the younger it is; bamboo nearing the color of a broom handle is considered too old for commercial use. Although these older yellow bamboo stalks lack market appeal, they make excellent fuel resources, with some traditional households even collecting them specifically for cooking and boiling water.

Challenges and Vision for Bamboo Forest Management

Harvested bamboo needs to be evenly laid on the ground to prevent obstructing the growth of new shoots. Youshun’s team envisions acquiring a shredder suitable for the bamboo forest environment, allowing them to grind harvested bamboo into mulch that can be returned to the soil as nutrients. This would not only save space but also facilitate transport. However, machines that meet their needs cost over NT$ 3 million, far beyond their budget, while smaller machines lack the necessary efficiency. This makes the path to optimizing their workflow a distant goal.

“Bad Bamboo Yields Good Shoots” and Considerations for Clear-Cutting

The classic Taiwanese adage “bad bamboo yields good shoots” metaphorically illustrates the benefits of clear-cutting. In theory, when a bamboo forest becomes overcrowded, or the bamboo quality declines, clear-cutting or controlled burning can give the forest a fresh start. Clear-cutting simplifies management, allows the soil to “breathe,” and enables bamboo to absorb nutrients more effectively, resulting in a robust growth of bamboo shoots. After clear-cutting, bamboo forests typically grow back faster, taller, and stronger, with a marked improvement in bamboo health and resilience against typhoons or other natural disasters.

However, because Fuxing District is located upstream of the Shimen Reservoir, soil and water conservation are key concerns for the government. Current regulations only permit thinning in bamboo forests, making clear-cutting nearly impossible to implement. Although clear-cutting offers long-term benefits for bamboo forest health and growth, environmental protection policies need to be revised to ensure the feasibility of this approach.