The Experimental Forest, College of Bio-Resources and Agriculture, National Taiwan University (hereafter referred to as the Experimental Forest) was originally established in 1901 during the period of Japanese occupation as the “Taiwan Practice Forest” attached to the college of Agriculture of Tokyo Imperial University. After the restoration of Taiwan to Chinese rule in 1945, the forest area was placed under jurisdiction of the Forestry Bureau of the Provincial Government of Taiwan and renamed “The First Demonstration Forest Area”. The Jiayi and Taichung Forest District shared administrative duties. In the autumn of 1949, the forest was entrusted to the National Taiwan University, which reestablished it as “the Experimental Forest”. In July 1950, it was given its present name. In 2002, with the renaming of College of Agriculture, the full name of the Experimental Forest was changed to “The Experimental Forest, College of Bio-Resources and Agriculture, National Taiwan University.”
The Experimental Forest has four major objectives: 1) academic research, 2) teaching and field practice, 3) Resources conservation, and 4) demonstration in forest management. The Experimental Forest lies in central Taiwan and administratively belongs to Lugu, Shuili and Xinyi townships in Nantou County. The terrain rises from 220 meter above sea level at the southern bank of Jhuoshuei River to 3,952 meter above sea level at the peak of Yushan, covering 32770.28 ha and occupying about 1% of Taiwan Island. The jurisdiction area of the Experimental Forest covers an elevational gradient of 3,732 m. With this wide variation in elevation from sea level, the Experimental Forest represents the five climatic zones of Taiwan: Sub-Tropical, Warm-Temperate, Cool-Temperate, Cold-Temperate and Frigid zones. Each climatic zone has special forest types that make this forest area worthy of being called the best site in Southeast Asia for conducting forest research, teaching and field practice. Not only is it abundant in plant species but also in wildlife resources. And it is a veritable treasure house for academic research applications from various university departments and graduate institutes in biology sciences. Furthermore, it also provides us with a place for ecological education.