Advocates call for protecting grassland for owls in Shalun science park project

• By Esme Yeh / Staff reporter

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Environmentalists yesterday called for protecting grassland for eastern grass owls in the Shalun Science Park development project in Tainan.

The project involving Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) next-generation chip manufacturing fab has been controversial since it was planned last year. Concerns include worries that a major habitat for critically endangered eastern grass owls in Shalun (沙崙) might become fragmented due to the project.

The scoping meeting for the project’s second-stage environmental impact review was completed on Oct. 12, the conclusion of which was that the developer should evaluate whether owl activity hot spots such as zones “Parking 1” and “Industrial 1-2” — the project’s planned parking lot and zero-waste center — can be excluded for ecological avoidance.

An eastern grass owl and its chicks are pictured in their nest in Pingtung County in a surveillance camera screenshot in 2023.

Photo courtesy of the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s Bird Ecology Lab

Tainan Community College researcher Chao Jui-kuang (晁瑞光) said the two zones collectively have 11.29 hectares of grassland where an eastern grass owl nest has been spotted.

The grassland is also an activity hot spot for ring-necked pheasants and other raptors such as collared scops owls, black winged kites and kestrels, he said.

Tainan Community College researcher Huang Huan-chang (黃煥彰) said the project covers two main ecological areas for eastern grass owls, the Shalun Farm (沙崙農場) and the Erren River (二仁溪) basin.

Grassland around the higher riverbank is home to eastern grass owl nests and should not be considered an ecological compensation site for owls, he said.

The project site is a major habitat for eastern grass owls, because it provides a massive foraging ground, but the project’s discussions have focused only on the breeding ground, he added.

Wetlands Taiwan representative Hsieh Yi-chen (謝宜臻) said eastern grass owls’ habitats can be graded into three tiers: Grassland around high riverbanks are the primary tier, agricultural land such as the “Satoyama” farmland are the second tier, and fish farms, salt fields and other fragmented habitats are the third tier.

What advocates sought to preserve is the primary tier habitat, she added.

Apple Bird Satoyama Conservation Foundation representative Tseng Lung-yung (曾瀧永) said only 63 hectares of land within the science park would be preserved for owl activities, while planned off-site compensation areas are facing challenges in their transition to ideal owl habitats.

For example, the Shalun Farm’s Shenkengzi section (深坑子) is a wooded area that some consider a critical habitat for other species, so trees must not be removed for grassland, he said.

The developer must overcome such challenges early and embark on owl habitat creation before the construction starts next year, otherwise eastern grass owls would soon decrease or disappear from the area, Tseng said, citing the Kaohsiung Science Park as a precedent of the loss of eastern grass owl following land development.