Two Years of Cooperation between the Luodong Forest District Office and the Four Main Telecommunication Operators - Trail Communication Markers Completed

    Since 2015, the Luodong Forest District Office of the Forestry Bureau has been setting up a simple trail marker system for four popular and easy-to-get-lost hiking routes. After the setup was completed, the Yilan County Fire Bureau indicated that the number of search and rescue cases have dropped significantly, and that the safety of outdoor activities has improved. Luodong Forest District Office has cooperated with the four major telecoms operators since 2017, measuring in succession the mobile phone signal of the 21 nature trails and 4 mountain trails under its jurisdiction, as well as setting up mobile phone signal communication markers to provide the public and hikers with a safer environment for the mountain and outdoor experience, and effectively reduce the occurrence of search and rescue incidents and lower the amount of rescue resources used.
    According to statistics from the Fire Bureau, accident reporting or requests for assistance on the mountain trails are mostly reported by mobile phones. However, the automatic detection of signal by mobile phones consumes a huge amount of power when there is no signal, therefore, there is often insufficient battery power on the return trip down. In the event of an emergency, where the fire department and the forestry unit must be contacted to request for assistance on mountain search and rescue, mobile phones may not be able to provide much help. Therefore, the Luodong Forest District Office began cooperation with FarEasTone Telecommunications from 2017, and started the establishment of a communication point investigation and set up of signboards for the nature trails and mountain trails under its jurisdiction. In 2018, the Luodong Forest District Office partnered with the four major telecommunication operators - Chunghwa Telecom, FarEasTone, Taiwan Mobile, and Taiwan Star Telecom to test the signal and set up the markers. The set up of the communication markers has been integrated with the nature trail or the mountain trail mile marker pole (board), so that hikers can both save power and clearly indicate their position when reporting, as well as allow the search and rescue personnel to quickly and accurately locate and determine the manpower and equipment needed for the search and rescue. At present, apart from the 6 nature trails that have no signal due to restrictions of the valley terrain, the set up of communication markers for the other 15 nature trails and 4 mountain trails has been completed to assist with communication needs. However, it must still be noted that mobile phone signal can be influenced by the weather and environment.
    At present, the number of assistance request cases for those lost on popular mountain trails in Yilan County have decreased, but there have been reported cases for other situations, such as inadequate equipment, bad weather, lost team member, and request for assistance by single hikers. Most of these reported cases could be avoided if the hikers or members of the public could make preparations, enquiries, or take preventative measure beforehand. The Luodong Forest District Office would like to remind the public that in order to protect their own personal safety, please confirm whether the trails are open and check the weather information before entering the mountain trails. For detailed trail conditions and information, members of the public can visit the Taiwan Forest Recreation website , or the official website of the Luodong Forest District Office for enquiries or contact us on 03-9545114.