National Parks

As introduced by the Yearbook of Republic of China:

The National Park System

The Republic of China has created a comprehensive national park system that balances conservation, recreation, and research. This has taken only ten years to implement, compared to over a hundred years for many other countries. Since this process was not begun until the island's population density was already quite high, park officials have had to face a constant tug of war over land rights. Ownership of park land has been contested by businesses that previously occupied it, aborigines who claim it as ancestral land, investors who would like to develop hotels and other tourist facilities there, and even a veterans' agency that runs a farm in the middle of one of the parks.

The quick and continuous development of land did not give Taiwan the luxury of building its park system gradually. Instead, it has done the best it could, pushing through an ambitious parks program that has placed 8.5 percent of its land area under protection. Additional land acquisitions together with the 51 existing protected nature and wildlife areas will eventually push the proportion of protected territory to over 12 percent of Taiwan's total area.

Taiwan's national park system was inaugurated in 1984 with the establishment of Kenting National Park at the southern tip of the island. In 1985 and 1986, Taiwan moved swiftly to set up the Yushan National Park, Yangmingshan National Park, and Taroko National Park in central, northern, and eastern Taiwan, respectively. In 1992, Shei-Pa National Park was established in north-central Taiwan, and in October 1995, a sixth national park -- Kinmen National Park, occupying 25.5 percent of the Quemoy islands -- was opened to the public.

National Park Facilities

Each national park has a national park headquarters, which is supervised by the Department of National Parks. In fiscal 1998, the combined budget for all the national park headquarters and the Department of National Parks exceeded US$70 million. Each national park has at least one visitor center and one nature display center. Most of the parks also have trailhead nature centers. Guided tours may be arranged by contacting the park headquarters in advance.

The national parks received 11.17 million visitors in 1997. To minimize the impact of these crowds, the parks were divided into management zones. The zones identify the best uses for each area of the parks, including general protection, recreational, scenic areas, and ecological protection areas, as well as cultural and historical sites.