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Achievements | Treasure the old trees that will never fade in your heart
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Background

Tainan is a city full of culture with a long history. In the process of urban development, it has left behind many profound echoes and patterns including hundreds of old Bauhinias, also known as the mountain ebony, standing in the oldest park in Tainan. Imagine that since the Japanese era more than 200 Bauhinias, as many as a forest, in Tainan Park were not only the park’s main beauty, but also grew and lived alongside the people of Tainan for four seasons of the year.

The Bauhinia forest has been with people in Tainan for 6 decades, linking the emotions and memories for both local people and travelers. Unfortunately, since 2012, due to the removing of fallen leaves, the soil of Bauhinia forest has been taken away in the process. Consequently, there was too much mulch which has caused the main root system to shrink and also grow in an upward direction. As time went by, diseases began to take hold. After years of trampling, the soil has hardened and a large number of Bauhinia died because of this disease.

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participate the Tree Citizen Environmental Education Campaign from 2016 to 2023

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conducted training for the Tree Citizen from 2019 to 2023

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Bauhinia seed trees has been successfully nurtured

In order to rescue the old trees and recover the precious life memories they hold, Wistron Foundation and Tainan Community College have been working together since 2013 to call on tree citizens to devote themselves to tree habitat maintenance and the education of tree care with the Bauhinia forest in Tainan Park as a base. Small seedlings were grown in situ for rehabilitation. Community operations were set up to execute habitat maintenance, rehabilitation, and ecological resource surveys to recreate the Tainan Park in our memories through practical habitat care. The operations extend the experience of habitat transformation to other old trees in Tainan's old town areas, conducting surveys and caring for old trees, so that people can recognize the importance of old trees and pay attention to their value in the city.

The old Bauhinia will eventually die, on the other hand, the new ones grow up one by one as if they were reborn. The attendant of the Bauhinia habitat, who has been working since 2016, shared that after the successful restoration of the Bauhinia many grandparents have come to see them in particular, and then happily tell a variety of stories regarding the Bauhinia from when they were both younger. There is an old tree in everyone’s heart that will never wither because it holds so many good memories within it.

In the spring of 2021, during the flower-blooming season, a large forest of Bauhinia sprang up in Tainan Park, reproducing the most beautiful memories for the people from Tainan. While strolling through the beautiful pink sea of flowers, we happened to meet a group of children who were on a field trip. Until this moment, we had not realized the significance of rejuvenating the blooming of the Bauhinia, which also means passing them to the next generation, continuing the value of sustainability. This realization come from simply looking upon the happy smiling faces of the kids while they walked through the newborn Bauhinia forest. The leaf shape of the Bauhinia implies "moving forward" which also symbolizes that we are willing to move forward for a beautiful environment in the story of the times.

Getting to know the Bauhinia
Bauhinia is a species of flowering plant of the legume family Caesalpinioideae, a small deciduous tree, commonly known as orchid wood, Indian cherry, southern cherry, horseshoe bean, or Bauhinia variegata. Bauhinia is called western Bauhinia in mainland China and is called palace pink Bauhinia in Hong Kong and Macao. Bauhinia is native to southern China, Taiwan, India, and The Malay Peninsula. Bauhinia blossoms from March to May each year after the leaves fall.

Outcome

2021We continue to carry out routine work to maintain the Bauhinia forest and accumulate civic training as well as interpretive materials. To make good use of the experience gained from our presence in the Bauhinia forest in Tainan Park and our 2020 tour of parks and green spaces in the northern and southern districts of Tainan, we will conduct learning together programs such as "a Tree in a Park," "Tree Lifebelt," and "a thought from a Tree" in communities to guide people to learn together, promoting public understanding of urban parks and green spaces.

2020We continue to employ professional staff to manage the habitat of the Bauhinia forest for daily maintenance and record taking of their experience. In addition, we operate the park's ecology classroom to cultivate tree citizens, which has 25 parents and children participating. Promoting the “One Tree in a Park” program and developing teaching materials for park tree surveys cultivates public concern for urban public spaces.

2019The public has open access to the Bauhinia habitat. The habitat manager introduces the city’s natural environment and the park land’s stories to residents in the city, explaining tree care and soil knowledge. The "Tree Helper” (a tree survey maintenance civic community) was recruited to participate in the survey to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of trees and green space to the city. With a total of 6 sessions and 90 participants based on the statistics.

2018A Park Team was established on the west side of the Bauhinia forest to design the blueprint of the 100-year-old Tainan Park, which was a joint design by the nongovernmental and public sectors. Furthermore, the four-year experience of managing the Bauhinia forest habitat in Tainan Park was published as the experience of A Day of a Tree Citizen.

2017Using "Imagination for Future Life - Tainan Park after 100 years of age", for the theme, and let the public participate in park design, and further became the communication contact for the 100-year-old park’s future management blueprint with the city government. Moreover, the operation of the waterjet machine is used to improve hard soils and permeability problems in the Bauhinia forest’s habitats.

2016The park has been used to guard the habitat of the Bauhinia forest, and the seedlings have been successfully cultivated and rehabilitated. The Tainan Park Story 100 lecture activity, which is a total of 48 lectures conducted by 11 lecturers, attracted 700 participants to learn about the ecological and human stories of Tainan Park.

2015Community invitations have started to be sent out around Tainan Park as well as a plan to hold a “Flowers that Appear on the Trail” workshop around the Land God Temple in ZhenYuanJing, which rescued important old trees and improved habitats in 12 locations of the old town.

2014We continued to restore the Bauhinia forest habitat and build a handmade trail with observation and maintenance as the main functions. In addition, we launched courses like Tree Citizenship, My Little Garden, and Flower-Watching Trip in Tainan at Tainan Community University to proliferate the cultivation of tree citizens to join the learning ranks.

2013The Tree Citizen Habitat Restoration Group for carrying out habitat restoration work was established, and a press conference was held at the Old Tree Festival to pledge an enthusiasm for action and a determination to protect these trees.

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