Nanzih Green Corridor – A Low-Carbon Urban Oasis

Text & Photography / Kaohsiung City - Government Information Office
 
Located at a major transportation hub, Nanzih District was previously designated as an export processing zone. The area also houses the Kaohsiung Refinery, considered a vital artery of the heavy industrial economy, as well as military facilities related to naval missions, which have long left an impression of being purely “functional.”

With the construction of the Yongzhonggang base for the Navy’s second-generation fleet, the area has been planned as a mangrove wetland park, becoming the largest wetland park in Kaohsiung’s ecological wetland corridor and the primary wetland ecological corridor in northern Kaohsiung. The former Taiwan Sugar Corporation Xiqingpu Landfill site, now transformed into the Kaohsiung Metropolitan Park, has spent ten years on greening and revitalization, creating a “mission impossible” green landmark.

Successful mangrove rehabilitation
Unlike the towering trees of high mountain forests, strolling beneath the dense mangroves also offers cool shade. As autumn arrives and the summer heat gradually fades, the crisp, clear weather makes it especially ideal for park visits and nature walks. “All four species of mangroves found in Taiwan can be seen in the western section of Yongzhonggang Wetland Park,” said Lee Maosong, CEO of the Taiwan Wetlands Conservation Alliance, as he guided us through the mangroves. Different from other mangrove environments in Taiwan, here you can observe them up close. The Taiwan Wetlands Conservation Alliance took over the wetland’s stewardship in 2006, and after more than a decade of rehabilitation, Kandelia obovata, Sonneratia alba, Rhizophora stylosa, and Lumnitzera racemosa have flourished into lush mangroves.

Prime season for crab and bird watching
“Although fiddler crabs can be seen all year round, the best time to spot the aggressive Uca arcuata is during a specific period.” During their breeding season, female fiddler crabs carrying eggs collectively move to the shore to release their young. Due to tidal movements and seawater salinity, these pregnant females migrate from the wetlands across the levee to the sea every year from the sixth to the ninth month of the lunar calendar. The full moon high tide offers the best opportunity for them to cross, mostly concentrated around 7–8 PM. Through this remarkable journey of Uca arcuata releasing their young, one can witness a spectacular display of natural ecology.

Fiddler crabs, which feed on decaying organic matter, find mangrove leaves to be an excellent food source, thus serving as the most diligent scavengers of the mangroves. Meanwhile, the diversity of mangrove-associated plants—such as Myoporum bontioides, Bredia oldhamii, and Thespesia populnea—is also increasing, providing ideal spaces for herons to hide, rest, and forage. Following autumn, the mangroves enter their migratory bird season. In addition to the arrival of shrikes in October, species such as the intermediate egret, little egret, Chinese pond heron, purple heron, watercock, yellow bittern, night heron, grey heron, oriental dollarbird, Chinese bulbul, and magpie are also common visitors to the mangroves.