Plant Expert ──Huang Peng Lin(The Administrator of Cheng-Kung Green Camping Place for Learning )

Date: 2013.12.20 (Friday)
Time: 10:00AM~11:30AM
Location: Big Tree hallway in the Cheng-Kung Office Park
Interviewers: Ya-Zhu, Yang-Jun
Paperwork: Yi-Zhen, Ting-Yu

Origin
  Our school teacher has attended many training courses held by Green Camp, and met teacher Huang Peng-Lin, a plant expert who is familiars with 99.99% plants in the park. Teacher Huang showed strong support and was willing to help us when he knew that we want to choose Cheng-Kung Office Park as topic for Cyberfair and are interested in being the voluntary guide. Huang's goal is making the plants by the Jiangjun Road as the miniature of the native plants in the Baguashan Mountain.
Interview Record
Interview Record~Teacher Huang introducing the origin of the plants in the park~
  Cheng-Kung Office Park is about 37 acres, where is used by 4 units, Department of Water Resources, National Changhua Living Art Center, Cheng-Kung Green Camping Place for Learning and Changhua Arts Senior High School. Most of the trees are located in Green Camp; these big trees were planted by the army. At that time, exotic trees were rare; therefore, most of trees were foreign species such as Teak, River Oak and also Bougainvillea. When the construction of National Changhua Living Art Center began, some trees were transferred to the park. This process is called provisional planting.
~Beginnings of working at the park~
  Teacher Huang's voluntary career in the park started from 2007. At that time, the park was lack of volunteers; Huang thought he can make contribution to the park with his professional expertise in guiding. Working at the park accomplished Huang's dream; however, he is seldom doing voluntary guide now. Currently, Huang is responsible for tutoring and training environmental volunteers, he said, "when you are guiding, don't start from the plants, because people usually love animals, begins with animals would be more intriguing!"
~Introduction to the species in the park~

  There are a few rare species in the park, take Black-naped Blue Monarch for example, which usually can be seen in the summer. Their figure is bigger than sparrow; the top of the head is black. Males are all sapphire blue and females are half grey and blue. In bird species, most males are beautiful, but females look more plain and simple. Why female birds are born in that way? That's because females have to take care of their baby, their feather with plain colors can be the protection for avoiding from hunters. On the other hand, some bird species are on the contrary case such as, Painted Snipe and Pheasant-tailed Jacana.

~Solar panel's functions in the park~
  Teacher Huang said that the electricity which generated by the solar panels can't not use in the park, those energy is sold to Taiwan Power Company at higher price. Nevertheless, the solar panels have been broken; the electricity cannot cover the consumption in the park. Moreover, students from Changhua Arts Senior High School are getting more and more, it will take more time to fix the panels, so there is no plan to fix the solar panels for now.
~Environmental Issues~
  When it comes to why trees are prone to Brown root rot disease, teacher Huang said, people love planting single species on the street, for example, the path of Cherry Blossom or Cotton Tree. Single species can spread diseases to one another. If one tree is infected, it should be eradicated immediately. The area where the infected tree was can be used for farming. In this way, the disease won't be spread widely. Teacher Huang also mentioned that Brown root rot is kind of fungus, just like mushroom we usually consume. Human won't be infected by tree disease, so the disease causes no harm to us.
   Teacher Huang told us that most vanilla plants are born in countries with cold weather, and most are planted in winter and spring. The weather in Taiwan is too hot for them, vanilla plants can hardly survive from summer and fall, and thus usually they planted in winter. Now there are a few Mints in vanilla garden. Recently, Mint, Mt. Lemmon Marigold, Rosemary and Lemon Verbena are growing in the garden. Those species can resist hot summer day in Taiwan
   We asked, "Are the plants in the butterfly garden planted for attracting butterfly?", "Indeed!", Teacher Huang replied. Foreign plant species blossom in every season, they can attract more butterflies. The park will be more entertaining if there are many butterflies. That's why we choose to plant foreign species, but the foreign plants make no benefits to local environment. For example, some ecological gardens plant GymnocoronisSpilanthoides(foreign species), it gets more butterflies; however, the native plants may have less chance for pollination.
~Fun in the Voluntary Guiding~
  Many people think planting more trees in the mountain is benign for the nature, yet people only plant their desire species which may cause damage to the ecological system. Although the planted trees are native species, planting trees in the mountain will make the number of plants less and less. In fact, wild animals don't like these trees; animals need hundreds of, even thousands of plant species as resources so that the supplies can be balanced.
  

Actually, when people plant trees in the mountain, they make an influence on the nature at the same time. For example, they will remove "useless trees" before planting new trees. Some may argue, "I am planting native species, what's wrong with that?" Teacher Huang thinks that the Tu Di Gong(Chinese Earth God) can take care of the nature, people shouldn't involve in by any movements like life release, feeding and planting. People think they are doing something good, but they have no ideas that what they did may destroy the nature. The volunteers can promote this perception while guiding. It will be great if we receive any supports and find an echo.

~Teacher Huang's Guiding Tips~

  Before explaining plants, you should observe them first. If you see any animals, you should turn to the animals, or it will run away at any seconds because animals are more interesting. The tips to introduce plants are teaching people learn by the five senses. By only listening to the introduction, it's good enough for people who can remember 10% of the information; by hearing and observing, people can at least remember 20%; furthermore, people can learn more by touching or smelling. Teacher Huang mentioned that when he tries to explain Shell Ginger, he usually nips it and tells people to smell it; when introducing Black Nightshade, Huang will take its berries to people. But before people taste any fruit or berry, they should ask the guide first. By the senses of taste, touch and smell, people get more lasting impression to the plants. You can also add some interactions while guiding. The most important thing is, introducing some unique animals and plants, people can quickly learn the species with distinguishing characteristic, like different texture. In addition, before you guide, remember taking a deep breath and relaxing. Don't forget to speak up! Then you can start your guide job.

A Gentle and Elegant Teacher, Ye Rong-Ren(The Administrator of Cheng-Kung Green Camping Place for Learning)

Date: 2013.13.05(Thursday)
Time: 02:00PM~03:00PM
Location: Big Tree hallway in the Cheng-Kung Office Park
Interviewers: Ya-Zhu, Yang-Jun, Ting-Yu, Bo-Lin
Paperwork: Bo-Lin, Ya-Zhu

Origin
  We would like to join the Green Camp volunteers, so we asked teacher Ye during the field trip. He stopped his work and led us to the Big Tree hallway where is next to the office to give us further information about volunteers. Teacher Ye is a gentleman, speaking steadily and wearing a kind smile. He always welcomes us when we visit the park.
Interview Record
A, Motivation of Being Voluntary Guide

  When Teacher Ye knew we were doing the project for Taiwan School Cyberfair and we were willing to be the volunteers, He wanted to understand our motivation. We knew Cheng-Kung Office Park because of the cyberfair, after several visits, we gradually learnt and fell in love with this place. And an idea came up with our mind, "We are just kids, what can we do for the park?"

B, Care of Our Environment

  Teacher Ye knew our determination to help in the park, and thought we are good kids. He was very glad that we can help. Also, we asked teacher Ye about how to be a good guide. He said, "It's simple, just start from care your living environment." It's surprisingly easy, just pay more attention on the land you stand, and devote yourself to the land. By doing this, you are already the best guide.

C, How to be a teen voluntary guide

  Teacher Ye said that if you want to be voluntary guide, you need pass two tests. First, you need to pass the written test to move to oral test. Once you pass the two tests, you are one of teen voluntary guide in Green Camp. So far we don't have any elementary kids, if you can pass; you will be the youngest guides in the camping place.

  You need to get over 70 points in the written test. The test isn't difficult; you can easily pass, if you study hard. In the oral test, you will be evaluated by the evaluators. You can choose any topic only in Cheng-Kung Office Park. The duration of the oral test is 20 minutes for each person.

D, Green Camp volunteers' Job

  Apart from guiding, voluntary guides also clean the park every Saturday. The service hours should be recorded after every attendance. If you want to be the volunteer in the next year, your service hours need to reach some specific numbers. Teen volunteers clean the environment on Sundays, helping organizing activities in the park, such as summer camp or guiding. Mountain cleaning is frequent activities. Now it's a little bit difficult to gather teen volunteers, because some are college students, studying at other cities; some are junior and senior high students who need to go to school on weekends. We need to make sure that these students are available for activities.

  There are so many things need volunteers' help, only if you can keep doing. You can learn with adult volunteers every Saturday. The schedule is, from 9AM~10AM is environmental service, and from 10:30 to11:30 is ecological lessons. Hurrah! Finally we got a chance to be volunteers.

E, Endless Learning
  Teacher Ye suggested we can ask the adult volunteers because they acquire more knowledge. Some of them are school or retired teachers. It is helpful for you. When summer and winter break comes, he will inform us. Kid voluntary guide's training begins in next March and April. Teacher Ye hoped we can learn with guide on Saturdays, we can learn more!
Green Explorers's Reflection
  We always think grass are greener on the other side, for example, Cheng-Kung Office Park is located in our hometown, Changhua city, and it is a great place for family trip; however, we tried to visit sightseeing in other city. Commuting and car jam takes too much time; as result, we don't have time to have fun. Now we visit the park on weekends, and we learned some plants and birds. We care about the environment in the park because this place is a secret garden in Changhua city. Green Explorers's core value is to let more people know Cheng-Kung Office Park, promote correct perception to the nature and protect our environment.