Firefly season: Dingbenzai charges fees to protect the ecology
The Guanghua Dingbenzai community in Alishan is a popular firefly-viewing spot, and the unsung heroes behind it are three landowners who do not spray pesticides and keep the habitat natural. But because there has been no harvest for more than ten years, and visitors casually toss PET bottles around, the landowners became disheartened and considered developing the land. The community residents decided to charge a 100 yuan admission fee this year, allocate part of the income to the landowners, and at the same time train ecological guides. Coincidentally, the Dafun Dafu flatland forest park in Hualien, which became wildly popular this year, also plans to start charging admission next year, with community residents serving as guides, promoting user-pays ecotourism.
Dafun Dafu flatland forest park also wants to promote paid guided tours
The Dafun Dafu flatland forest park in Hualien held its first trial firefly season this year. Photos of the forest wrapped in specks of green light quickly went viral online, but they also brought a flood of visitors, along with unruly behavior such as shining flashlights at fireflies. Although the park is under the Forestry Bureau, considering environmental maintenance, it is also expected to charge admission next year.
Wu Kun-ming, director of the Hualien Forest District Office, said that since the firefly-viewing season began in March, Dafun Dafu has averaged 4 to 500 visitors a day. Parking spaces are insufficient, and some people accidentally stray from the route and step on firefly habitat. Next year, the park is considering charging admission and implementing advance registration with total visitor caps, while also letting nearby community residents and Indigenous people serve as guides so they can benefit as well.
Using price to control numbers and develop sustainable tourism
Ecological maintenance takes several years before results can be seen, but destruction happens in an instant. After the 921 earthquake, the Caonan wetland in Puli promoted ecotourism for many years and became a popular firefly-viewing spot, but this year it was reported that landowners cut down mixed woodland, affecting firefly habitat, so the firefly-viewing season was canceled.
Liu Chia-nan said with feeling that he once had a plot of land filled with fireflies, but four or five years ago he wanted to plant lemons to supplement his income. Because pest damage was severe, he sprayed pesticide twice, and unexpectedly the fireflies stopped coming. Some experts say it may take more than ten years to recover. "Establishing user-pays and promoting high-quality firefly-viewing activities is the only way to achieve sustainable development."
At present, Dingbenzai has not yet implemented total visitor controls, but charging admission has already shown results. The management section of the Alishan National Scenic Area Administration said that Dingbenzai is the first community under the administration to promote paid firefly viewing. In the past, holiday crowds once surged to 1,500 people. After charging fees, last week the number dropped to about 6 or 700, and there are personnel patrolling and managing the area, so order is better than before. In the future, the administration will guide more communities to develop small-scale, in-depth, refined tourism.
As for the loss of visitors, Liu Chia-nan is not disappointed at all. Instead, he said frankly: "This is a good phenomenon!" Visitors who do not want to pay will automatically find other places, achieving the effect of using price to control numbers, and the activity becomes higher quality.
Dingbenzai firefly-viewing information:
The ticket office is in the plaza behind Xiangquan Homestay. Full fare is 100 yuan, concession ticket 80 yuan, and half fare 50 yuan. The concession ticket applies to groups of 10 or more, and the half fare applies to children aged 7-12 and guests staying at local homestays and campgrounds
For details, please contact the Chiayi County Dingbenzai Culture Association at 05-2561929