Of the 99 big families, 10 will be even bigger, with four generations, officials from the forest office said.

They are expected to plant saplings of various endemic trees, including Taiwan cherry, sweet pittosporum, blueberrylite persimmon and pistacia chinensis bunge, at the ecology park located in Chiayi County’s Fanlu township, the officials said.

Each of the families will plant one sapling, the officials added.

Lai Tsai-yueh, 91, will be the most senior tree planter at the event. Lai worked for the Alishan Forest Administration when Taiwan was still under Japanese colonial rule.

Lai said she was pleased to take part in the activity as it brought back sad memories of how the Japanese destroyed much of Taiwan’s forests by felling expensive timber such as teak and shipping it back to Japan to build furniture and houses.

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