The Thousand Miles Trail Association (TMI Trail) has launched a new Web site that seeks to enlist the public’s help in reducing concrete hiking trails in the nation.
At a news conference on Tuesday, TMI Trail deputy director-general Hsu Ming-chien (徐銘謙) encouraged hikers to upload photographs of damaged or at-risk trails to itrail.tw, as part of efforts to reduce the spread of paved paths in mountainous areas.
After walking more than 200 mountain paths in rural areas in Taipei and New Taipei City, volunteers found that nearly 74 percent of the trails in Taipei were completely paved with concrete, with natural trails accounting for only 10 percent, Hsu said.
Photo courtesy of the Thousand Miles Trails Association
The discovery sparked grave public concern about the issue, leading to the establishment of Taiwan Trail Day, celebrated on the first Saturday of every June, Hsu added.
The association is dedicated to reducing the widespread existence of paved trails in mountainous areas around Taiwan, an upgrade from the “zero damage to natural trails, zero growth in concrete trails,” TMI Trail chairwoman Chou Sheng-hsin (周聖心) said.
She added that itrail.tw was launched in conjunction with nearly 40 other groups and companies from a broad range of areas.
On its Web site, the TMI Trail said it invites people to join the initiative by walking through forests and strolling along trails, encouraging them to record and report problems whenever and wherever they find them along the way using their smartphones.
The association said that it hoped the Web site would increase public awareness of the importance of maintaining a sound natural environment and encourage self-discipline among hikers.
Through a collective effect among the public, trails that need protection or repairs would be found, which would be referred to government authorities in charge to deal with, it said.
Trails that need protection or repairs would be rebuilt by hand if necessary or with other environmentally friendly methods, it said.
Hsu said the objective was set in the annual non-governmental organizations’ environmental conference in 2012, opening the way for a Taiwan trail stewardship campaign of scores of trained skilled volunteers with the TMI Trail to protect and maintain natural mountainous trials across the country.
As more and more people have become enthusiastic about hiking following COVID-19, mountainous areas and hiking trails have become much more vulnerable to the damage caused by increased mudslides and land erosion, Hsu said.
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