Guandu Nature Park, Taiwan
Name of centre: Guandu Nature Park
Organisation Name: Wild Bird Society of Taipei
Funding Support: The Wild Bird Society of Taipei raises about 80% of the funds needed to operate the Reserve through visitor income and private / corporate donations and the Taipei City Government provides the remaining 20% through various annual budgets and support of habitat management projects.
Number of Staff: 20 people across the 5 departments - Education, Environment, Promotion, Operating and Marketing.
Overall Aims of your centre:
Our mission is to educate all our visitors - school students, school teachers, families and corporations - through different activities about wetlands and so inspire them to protect the wetlands in Taiwan.
Description of your centre:
Guandu Nature Park is situated in north Taiwain, at the junction of the Danshui and Keelung rivers, with Datun mountain to the northeast and Guanyin mountain to the southwest. The park is a biodiversity environment of about 57 hectares and divides into 3 parts - coastal area, education area and sustainable area; the landscape consists of woodland, streams, creeks, brackish ponds and rice paddies. It is a major stopover site for migrating birds, especially waterfowl and shorebirds, and is an important wintering and breeding ground for many species; 229 species of birds have been observed qualifying this wetland as an Important Bird Area (IBA), recognised by Bird Life International. There are over 830 species of animals, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, mammals, bristle worms, snails, crustaceans, and insects.
Main CEPA work areas:
We have 5 programs for school students, including bird-watching, wetland ecosystem, investigation of wetland life and a special need children's program. We also have overnight camps for children in summer and winter vacations. There is a 2-day teacher training workshop program and a 2-hour outreach program. The visitor center exhibits talk about the history, ecosystem and location of Guandu and there is a studio and learning room. Our programs are implemented through different kinds of activities such as Senses-using, Role Plays, Demonstration, Investigations, Field trips, Games and Workshops. We also have weekend programs, such as story-telling, artwork-diy, in-door interpretation and field-trips and rice-planting camp for families. In April we have the Guandu International Outdoor Sculpture Festival and the International Bird-watching Festival in December.
Contact details:
Guandu Nature Park, 55 Guandu Road, Beitou District, Tapei City 112, Taiwan
T: +886-2-2858-7417 Ex 220
F: +886-2-2858-6680
Contact: Mr Chen Shih-Hung, Vice Chief Executive Officer
Email: kooneo@wbst.org.tw
Website: www.your.gd-park.org.tw