Across the Administrative Boundaries—The First Mile of the Long-Distance Trail Collaboration in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Government agencies are only given the power to govern their administrative areas; however, long-distance trails usually span across different local governments and supervised by different central ministries. In Taiwan, trails with good-way marking are limited in the distance because there is no legislation neither a resource integration division on trail management. Taiwan Thousand Miles Trail Association (TMI Trail) is an NGO aims to promote long-distance trails. Since 2014, TMI has worked on the reconstruction of the Tamsui-Kavalan Historical and Cultural Trails. The trail system 300 km cultural route was built in the nineteenth century and now governed by eight government units. To Solve up-to-date problems, a public-private platform was created in 2016 and an annual great assembly is hosted in different cities. Today, many people hike on the trails and create great economi opportuines. Because of its success, a system of seven themed national greenways is planned, portraying the unique historical and cultural heritage.

KEYWORDS:

• Long-distance trail
• cultural route
• national greenway
• public–private collaboration
• trail building and maintenance system

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).