Shei-Pa

Shei-Pa National Park covers 768.5 km2 in central Taiwan across Hsinchu County, Miaoli County and Taichung City, around the peaks of Xueshan and Dabajian^[1]. It was established on 1 July 1992 and ranges in elevation from 760 m in the Da-an River Valley to 3,886 m at the top of Xueshan, Taiwan's second-highest mountain^[1].

The park is listed among Taiwan's Important Bird Areas^[1]. Its conservation value lies in high mountain ecology and rare animals and plants^[1]. It is also home to the endangered Formosan landlocked salmon.

In 2022 researchers measured a 79.1 m Taiwania tree at about 2,000 m elevation in the park^[1].

The Xueshan Range sits at the northern end of Taiwan's Central Range, an uplifted metamorphic belt that forms the island's spine. The park is notable for the box fold of Pintian Mountain and for many glacial cirques^[1].

At the Shei-Pa station (1,956 m) annual precipitation averages 2,544 mm on about 167 days, with July and August the wettest months and January the driest; mean daily highs run from 13.0 C in January to 22.7 C in July, and the record low is -7.3 C^[1].

The park lies in the mountain homeland of the Atayal people.

The park was established on 1 July 1992 as an IUCN Category II national park and is administered by the National Park Service, Ministry of the Interior^[1].

The park is built around Xueshan (3,886 m) and Dabajian, the high peaks of the Xueshan Range^[1].

The park headquarters is at Xueweiping, Fuxing Village, Dahu Township, Miaoli County^[1].

The park protects the headwaters of the Takejin Creek (which flows to the Danshui River that supplies Taipei), the Dajia and Da-an rivers and the Touqian River^[1]. Its rare high-mountain animals and plants are the core of its conservation value^[1].