By 1989, when the Executive Yuan ordered a ban on further logging of natural forests, only isolated patches were left of the great swathe of 20 million gigantic yellow and red cypress trees that once stretched the length and breadth of Taiwan. The yellow cypresses of Mt. Chilan in Ilan County form one of the last remaining relatively untouched forests of giant trees in Taiwan.
民國七十八年，行政院終於頒佈禁伐天然林命令，此時，過去台灣兩千萬棵巨木築成的南北檜木長堤，幾乎只剩局部殘林，宜蘭棲蘭山的扁柏，可以說是台灣僅剩完整度較高的神木林了。