The Fanfan wild hot spring (梵梵溫泉) in Yilan County is to be diverted to formal tourist facilities and closed to the public if approved by the local council, as overtourism is harming the area’s ecology and disturbing residents.
The Yilan County Government proposed a plan to divert the spring to dedicated tourist facilities, similar to the Cingshuei Geothermal Park (清水地熱公園).
If approved by the village council, it would also mean the closure of the wild hot spring to the public.
Photo: Taipei Times
The Fanfan hot spring has become popular in recent years, with many visitors driving their vehicles directly onto the riverbank, barbecuing and leaving trash behind.
The situation has raised the ire of local residents, who have closed off the access road to try and stop people from coming to no avail.
The area is also prone to flash flooding, posing a danger to visitors.
The Yilan County Government in 2020 proposed diverting the hot spring to public land in Yingshi Village (英士) and creating facilities similar to the Cingshuei park, but progress stalled due to disagreements with local stakeholders.
Yilan County Councilor Shen Chih-hung (沈志宏) convened a meeting last week between the country government and village representatives, where the two sides reached a preliminary agreement.
In the short term, the county is to improve crowd management at the hot springs and work to clean up the area, the county government said.
In the longer term, it would open talks with the village council on how to build hot spring facilities while respecting their rights and traditions, it added.
After a consensus is achieved among village residents, the county said it would draw up a formal plan and apply for funding with the central government.
The initial idea is to create a facility like the Cingshuei park, which has a bathhouse, footbath and area to cook corn and eggs in the hot spring water, it said.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS