Gaomei Wetlands is the famous sightseeing spot in Taichung. Besides the rich resources of animals and plants in the wetlands, the Gaomei light house, wind power generation equipment, landscape bridge, the visitor service center and wooden walkway with storyboards are well constructed in the area as well. The officer of Taichung City Government said, the visitor service center will start to test run on 21st July 7; in the beginning, the amphitheatrum of Gaomei 4 scenes, Wetlands ecological conservation hall and Wetlands ecological interactive hall in addition to the planned iBike, bus, cycling path etc. green vehicles in the surrounding area are opened to lead the visitors to leave for the visitor center to detect the ecological conservation secrets of wetlands.
Director of Construction Bureau, Yu-ling Huang said, the Gaomei Wetlands visitor service center on Freeway 68 is designed as a slope so the people can reach the sightseeing platform along the slope to enjoy the sunset, wind wheels and landscape bridge etc. The other plans includes the artificial ecological conservation of wetlands in the surrounding area, natural swamp area and forest path test area. The artificial wetlands can provide the ecological environment without any disturbance so several common benthic organisms like Uca arcuat, Uca lactea, Helice Formosa, Parasesarma pictum, Sentinel crab, Scylla serrata, Sesarmid crab, Scopimera bitympana, pond skipper and mud skipper etc.
At dawn, you can see the little egret, common moorhen and others seeking for food in the artificial wetlands; at night, you will see the fireflies flying around. The high season of fireflies in Gaomei Wetlands is usually during April to June; the fireflies usually hide in the weeds and windbreaks during the daytime but they will fly out at around 9 PM after the hall closed. They will fly around and can be observed until midnight.
Director Huang said, the most important spirit of wetlands conservation is the sustainability to make people live with the wetlands peacefully forever. Through some activities, including the visitors’ interactive wetlands ecological experiences and guided tour in the exhibition hall led by the narrators, visiting the artificial wetlands to observe the benthic organisms, the animal and plant ecosystems in the surrounding coast line area, and the natural ecological environment in short distance will allow to have more people understand the importance of the biological diversity in Gaomei Wetlands so they will be willing to involve more in the ecological conservation which is the City Government wish to drive.
He said further, later on, the City Government will plan the ecological habitats restoration of Gaomei Wetlands to cultivate the Taiwan typical salinized weeds and plants like Bolboschoenus planiculmis or Spiranthes sinensis and Da -Ann Hygrophila etc. which will provide the schools in the neighborhood area to conduct the environmental education; meanwhile, the local communities will be able to leverage the ecological resources in wetlands to organize the ecological tourism for the local economical value creation if there is no harm to the environment.