Prof. Yueh-Fong Chen Thanks IOS for Special Service Award

After receiving his Special Service Award from the IOS, Prof. Chen posted a thank-you message on Facebook. Here is a translation:

I have received the Special Service Award from the International Oak Society (IOS) at its 11th Triennial Oak Conference.

When I looked at the small plaque made from North American white oak (Quercus alba), I noticed—despite my aging eyes—that its growth rings numbered around 135 years. The parent tree of this wood once stood behind the resting place of Abraham Lincoln and his family, in the historic Oak Ridge Cemetery in Illinois, USA. It was propagated by IOS member Dick van Hoey Smith, and even now, this piece of oak carries a faint fragrance of wine.
 
As I held it, my mind turned to the tragic destruction of the oak forests in southeastern Taiwan—the lost homes of our Pasania shinsuiensis, Cyclobalanopsis hypophaea, Pasania chiaratuangensis,* and many others—26 native oak species that once formed the living soul of our mountains.
 
When the IOS President and other members visited Taiwan, we journeyed together into these forests and attended a symposium hosted by the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency. Our time together was brief—just a week—yet this recognition they have given me fills me with deep emotion and sorrow.
 
For fifty years, I have walked the mountain paths of Taiwan, listening in silence to the heartbeat of 2.5 million years of life on this island. Through that journey, I have sought to nurture in our culture a sense of reverence for nature and the ethics of the land. Those who truly understand me are the living beings of Taiwan themselves.
 
The IOS’s heartfelt gesture is a blessing from friends around the world. I offer this love back to the mountains and forests of Taiwan, with my hands joined in gratitude.

*Synonyms, respectively, of Lithocarpus shinsuiensis, Quercus hypophaea, L. harlandii