Since the car industry introduced "jeeps" (as all 4x4s are known in Chinese) into the Taiwan market, wave after wave of jeep enthusiasts-"four-wheelers" or "jeepers" as they call themselves-have driven up into the mountains and down along the shore, personally experiencing the beauty of Taiwan. Yet while the jeepers no doubt benefit from their communion with nature, nature doesn't.

A river runs through this scene, and the hills on either side are steep and green. In the river canyon jeeps advance like a line of soldier ants, carefully passing the rocks strewn across the river bed. . . . Lovers of nature drive jeeps to explore the scenic wonders of Formosa, the beautiful isle. In the mountains they enjoy a carefree feeling far removed from the grind of their daily lives. But there they also discover that the appearance of the mountains is changing bit by bit.

"We used to see fish in the creeks that were this big," says one jeeper with his hands held more than a foot apart. "Now many of the rivers and creeks are polluted, and even if they have fish, they won't be much bigger than this," he says with hands now just a few inches apart.

The Four-Wheel Drive Union's convoy stops for repairs, and as the jeepers wait, they drink tea or alcohol, eat melon seeds and peanuts, and chat. They talk about how several roads under construction are damaging the mountain forests, how the illegal taking of sand and gravel is affecting water and soil quality near rivers, and about the rampant illegal clearing of the mountain forests. What these jeep drivers haven't realized is that they themselves already bear the stamp of ecological enemy.

Waves of jeeps in the river beds

At the end of March the Homemaker's Association held a conference on the topic of "Enjoying the Mountains, Loving the Mountains." Many experts described how jeeps were disrupting and damaging the mountain forests. Fang Li-hsing, an associate professor of marine resources at National Sun Yat-Sen University, has been studying Taiwan's river fish for years, and has taken students on trips to the Tsengwen and Kaoping rivers, as well as several other rivers in central, southern and eastern Taiwan. His research files include stacks of photographs he and his students have taken of fish species living in the middle and upper stretches of these rivers. Some of these are the usual photos of healthy fish, but others pain the eye to see. One shows a student holding up a string of dead river fish. "These are what are left after poachers have intentionally electrified the water. With so many left behind, one can only imagine how many they took with them," says Fang with great pain.

But while carrying out his research over the past few years, Fang has paid even greater notice to the marks left by another species of human intruder. The river beds are full of jeep tracks.

Virtually everywhere water flows in Taiwan ecological researchers have seen the tracks of jeeps. Fang makes a rough estimate that out of three river or shoreline areas in Taiwan, one suffers from jeep traffic, but many scholars believe that this is far too conservative an estimate. Tai Yung-ti, a professor in the forestry department at Pingtung Polytech who has recently returned from Taitung's Chinlun River, says, "In some river beds there are not just a few jeep tracks, but rather jeeps have already pressed out permanent ruts."

A war hero

It is no accident that jeeps traversing the mountain forests today are able to climb steep slopes and ford streams. The fact is that overcoming dangerous obstacles is part and parcel of their basic nature.

During World War II the American armed forces produced a powerful "general purpose" vehicle which could be driven across sand, mud and gravel, which could cross shallow rivers and climb steep slopes. It ended up making a great contribution to the American war effort.

After the war, auto companies changed the vehicle's design a bit to make it better suited to civilians, who bought it in large numbers. It became an excellent device for getting close to nature. From GP, the abbreviation for "general purpose," users shortened the name further to the single syllable of "jeep."

With their military background, jeeps conveyed a rugged image, and their drivers would steer them through the tall grass like they were frontiersmen in some movie. In 1957 the Yulon car company in a joint venture with an American car company started producing jeeps in Taiwan. But since people here had little income back then, cars were regarded as luxury items. With the passion for leisure activities still far off, jeeps were on the list of forbidden imports and were used only by public agencies, such as the military and the forestry and telecommunications bureaus. It wasn't until 1990 that imports were allowed. Auto companies first imported them from Japan. As the rage for leisure-time pursuits gained steam, so did the use of jeeps.

500 a month

Currently, Suzuki, which has the largest share of the Taiwan jeep market, sells about 500 Escudos a month. This represents about 2-3% of all vehicles sold in Taiwan. Huang Hung-wang, who handles the marketing of Escudos for Taiwan's Prince Motors, estimates that there are 50,000 jeeps now in use in Taiwan.

Having marketed jeeps for several years, he holds that most people buy jeeps for their cool appearance and use them just like any other car. Only about 20% of buyers frequently make expeditions into the mountains or along the shore.

But to promote jeeps, car companies still play up their up-to-the-mountains-down-to-the-sea functions, and sponsor jeep activities every so often. Prince Motors, for instance, sponsors the Escudo Club, which holds four activities a year, mostly at famous amusement parks. The participating jeeps number at least in the hundreds, and as many as a thousand or two have been known to participate.

Beldare, the company that markets Chrysler's jeeps in Taiwan, is even more aggressive in stressing their "adventure" abilities. Francis Wei, sales supervisor for Beldare, says that the company works with the Safari Jeep Club to hold regularly scheduled activities, taking customers to spots deep within the wilderness to let them experience for themselves the joy of driving a jeep through the wild.

Designed for off-road travel

The biggest differences between a jeep and a regular car are that a jeep has four-wheel drive, a higher chassis and greater horsepower. In order to enter the mountain forests, most jeep owners will have definite requirements regarding a jeep's off-road capabilities, and eight or nine out of ten will customize.

Chiang Yi-pin, head of the Safari Jeep Club, says that the first change jeep owners make is to raise the chassis to as much as ten inches above its original level. Some drivers also want to strengthen the front and back bumpers and install a winch with a steel cable or strong lights to pierce through the darkness. In this way an off-road jeep is born.

With the availability of such powerful transportation tools, car industry sponsorship, and the enthusiasm of drivers, taking jeep expeditions has become a hot leisure activity in recent years. Take the Safari Jeep Club. A jeep repair shop serves as its communications hub. On work days, the shop does maintenance and customizing work on jeeps, and on holidays those who run it climb into their own 4X4s and join convoys of a dozen or more jeeps going out into the wild.

Huang Yu-ting, who is president of the 4X4 Association of Taiwan, estimates that there are probably more than 100 jeep clubs spread throughout the island. Some of the larger clubs may have a hundred jeeps or more; others are small clubs of just three to five friends.

Apart from appreciating the rugged character of jeeps, economic means and free time are also prerequisites to joining an off-road jeep club. Most jeep drivers are over 35, with money and time on their hands. Some are outdoorsmen who enjoy diving, fishing, mountain climbing and bird watching, and become jeep drivers through these pursuits.

Some jeep clubs hold at least one or two camp-outs a month. People ranging in age from grandparents to their little grandchildren will all pile into jeeps to enjoy some remote canyon in the mountain forests. They start in groups of ten or more jeeps, with several dozen meters separating the first and last vehicles. For the sake of convenient communication, most are equipped with two-way radios.

Journeys deep in the mountains

"Let's go! Get a move on! Teacher Yang will take the lead, to be followed by Hsinkaoshan, Three-for-Three, and Liquid Paper." The Land, Sea and Air Jeep Club is setting out for Ssumakussu, an Atayal aboriginal village in the mountains of Hsinchu County. As club leader Ye Chen-ya barks out his commands over the radio, the jeeps start off one by one.

"Teacher Yang" is a retired professor. Hsinkaoshan (lit. "new high mountain"), which is what the Japanese called Jade Mountain when they occupied Taiwan, is another club member's handle. The club leader, Land, Sea and Air himself, is a senior fireman. . . . People of different backgrounds and socio-economic levels have been brought together for their love of jeeps.

After pulling up at a checkpoint, and waiting a few minutes as the policeman checks their papers, the jeeps are granted permission to enter the forest road to Ssumakussu.

On one side of this winding and bumpy road is a drop off a cliff and on the other side is a rock wall. "Passing, passing, here comes a little turtle," says someone over the radio. A "little turtle" refers to an ordinary car. Then, "Passing, passing, two wind fires approaching." And a few moments later, two motorcycles edge past the jeeps and disappear into the dust behind them.

Still some distance from their destination, the convoy of four-wheelers spends the night at Mt. Litung, planning to set out for Ssumakussu early the next morning. Mt. Litung was site of a bloody battle between the Atayal and the Japanese. Now a retired soldier Li Wan-chun has built a mountain villa here, where he provides rest and refreshments for travellers. They greet him respectfully: "Hello, Villa Master."

As the jeepers busy themselves preparing dinner, night falls. They bring out their crockery and cutlery, and even a mini-screen television, karaoke machine, and colorful lights. A boisterous barbecue begins. Later, a few of them slip away from the evening feast and begin an adventure under the stars looking for flying squirrels, thrushes and other small animals of the forest.

The next morning, the jeeps set off for Ssumakussu, and along the way they pass a cement mixer and a bulldozer laying cement on the road and building a retaining wall. Leaving the paved road behind them, the jeeps continue on the dirt and gravel road, and slow to no more than 30 kilometers an hour. The jeeps jerk and shake like small boats in heavy seas.

After two hours of such "exercise," Ssumakussu appears before them. "In the past we could only take the jeeps to the hillside opposite for a view of Ssumakussu," Liquid Paper says, but now the road goes all the way to the village.

On the return trip, a side road to a river bed attracts their notice. River beds are strewn with all manner of small rocks, and there's also the flow of water, so they are favorite places for 4x4 drivers to test their off-road skills against the forces of nature. One after another, the jeeps drive onto the river bed, where the children prove anxious to take off their shoes and splash about in the water. . . .

Through the flora and fauna

For this two-day, one-night journey to Ssumakussu, permits are easy to obtain, and because the forest road provides easy access, four-wheeler clubs frequently make the trip.

Since jeeps were allowed to be imported eight years ago, jeep expeditions have become a popular leisure activity, and the number of jeeps in Taiwan has steadily grown. With import restrictions on Japanese cars soon to be lifted, the first wave of vehicles from Japan will be dominated by 4X4s.

The only problem is, these four-wheeler joy-rides through the forests and swamps are leaving permanent scars on the environment. "The jeeps already existing have had a big impact on nature. With the market open to Japanese jeeps, the effects will only grow more serious," says a worried Fang Li-hsing.

Many fish lay their eggs in the shallows of rivers. When jeeps come through, stirring up the small rocks on the river bed, old moss and the fish eggs attached to them are destroyed. The entire environment is thrown out of kilter, and river fish species are gravely threatened.

Apart from disrupting the river ecologies, excessive jeep traffic can cause even more damage in the forests, says Li Ling-ling, an associate professor of zoology at National Taiwan University. The damage is greatest when jeepers want to show their courage and strut their automotive stuff by heading off road and onto the river beds.

It's not just river fish that are threatened by jeeps. Liu Chi-chuan, a professor of forestry at National Pingtung Polytechnic Institute, says that the mud, sand and gravel on beaches are favored by small amphibians, arthropods and micro-organisms, and when jeeps drive by, they compress the earth, which forces animals to come to the surface and confront their predators, and crushes plants and their underground root systems. The level of carbon dioxide in the earth is also affected, which can bring down water and soil quality.

Sand is another surface on which jeepers like to challenge their vehicles. The Fengchuisha and Chiupengshamo dunes in Kenting National Park are more favorite off-road wheeling grounds for jeeps, where drivers perform fancy tricks for the tourists. Wang Hsin, an NTU geology professor who is in the midst of a provincewide landscape survey, says that Taiwan's special sand dune topography is very fragile, and that when jeeps plow around on the surface, it clearly hinders efforts to maintain soil and water quality. The jeeps pose a great challenge to the Forestry Bureau's efforts to stabilize the dunes and keep them from being blown away by the wind.

As for the jeeps in the mountains, Li Ling-ling believes that the noise from jeeps disturbs the animals there. When you add camp noise and the tunes blaring from the karaoke machines that jeepers bring along, it really scares away local bird species.

Bringing the garbage back home

In regard to the recent criticism leveled at jeeps by biologists, Tseng Ming-hung, supervisor for the 4X4 Association of Taiwan, ROC, says, "We can't say that there aren't some bad apples in the four-wheeler barrel, but at least jeepers don't knowingly damage the environment." The association always gets the proper permits before going up into the mountains, and once they are there its members use the existing mountain roads. Where there are no roads, they simply don't go.

Huang Yu-ting says that occasionally the association discovers that jeepers have acted improperly, such as by leaving garbage in the wilderness or spray-painting rocks. Whether the culprit was a member or not, the association will appeal to them to change their ways. Huang Yu-ting calls for anyone witnessing improper behavior by jeepers to write down the name of the jeep club pasted on the vehicle. Tseng Ming-hung notes, "The papers stuck on a jeep are like a student's name card that make it easy to tell their name and grade if they've done something wrong."

Chen Chin-chu, chairman of 4X4's board, says, "If we damage the environment, we'll be damaging it for ourselves the next time we visit."

And jeep clubs have their own rules. Huang Yu-ting notes that the association, for instance, asks jeep clubs not to disturb a single tree or blade of grass when they go into the forests, and that they take their garbage out with them. Because jeeps can carry a lot more than mountain climbers with their packs, they will sometimes even take out the garbage that hikers have left behind. With no garbage cans or dumps in the forest and no sanitation department to remove garbage, people frequently follow others' lead, dumping garbage where there already is some, until it grows into a big mound. When a jeep gets rid of the whole pile, Huang says, people won't dump there again.

Leaving the machines

The concept of taking your garbage out with you has been around for a few years, and it has gradually become common practice, but more advanced ecological concepts brought forth by Fang Li-hsing and others are still not commonly understood by jeepers.

One driver complains that ecological information ought to be directed more to drivers, and that only if four-wheelers have the proper understanding will they not damage the natural world as they have their fun.

In comparison to those who illegally fell trees or extract sand or gravel, Liu of Pingtung Polytech holds that the damage done by jeeps is minor. Furthermore, because no survey has yet been undertaken to provide concrete evidence of the damage jeeps inflict, the problem is being discussed but not emphasized.

But Liu Chi-chuan holds that it would still be best if jeeps stayed out of the river beds, because there are many species of animals that live in and around Taiwan's rivers. Even during the dry season from November to April, as long as there is any water flow or moss on the rocks, the river is supporting life.

Liang Ming-pen, secretary general of the ROC Alpine Association, loves to hike and has also participated in four-wheeler activities. He contrasts the two thus: Going to the mountains by jeep, you rely on a machine, which makes it easier to reach your destination and allows you to bring the stuff of civilization along with you. When mountain climbing, on the other hand, you rely on yourself, and you only carry on your back what your really need to live.

Chen Yu-feng, head of Taiwan's Ecological Research Center and an assistant professor at Providence University, holds that Taiwan isn't well suited for four-wheeler activities, and that jeeps should only be used as regular cars and not for leisure-time jaunts in the wild. If you really like exercise and nature, he argues, you ought to cast off the machines and refrain from damaging nature.

Liu Chi-chuan suggests that driving jeeps is a skill sport and ought to be enjoyed in set locations: man-made practice grounds or abandoned sand and gravel pits. Huang Yu-ting says that the 4X4 Association has thought about building a practice course, but land and operating expenses both pose problems. If the government would be willing to designate set stretches of a few river beds as practice zones, the association would happily concentrate their activities there and thus limit potential damage to the environment.

A state of anarchy

Fang Li-hsing, who does ecological research, once himself got behind the wheel of a jeep with the idea of getting close to nature. In 1980, in a protected area in California, Fang was off-road for only a minute or two before police caught up with him and gave him a US$55 ticket, which was then one-sixth of his salary.

To turn the focus back to Taiwan, the only thing now protecting the mountain regions is the mountain permit system. The Tourism Bureau, however, wants to scrap the different grades of permit and computerize so as to simplify the procedure for obtaining permits and promote visits by domestic and foreign tourists.

With the loose controls existing now, the government ought to be making stricter regulations regarding people's activities in the mountains. But Kuan Li-hao, in charge of preservation for the recreation group in the Forestry Bureau, points out that those who patrol the forests don't have the authority of the police, and have no way to control the activities of people and jeeps in the forests. They can do no more than fine vehicles that have entered the forest without permits NT$6000 for breaking national security law. Regulations aimed at protecting the ecology currently fall under the cultural asset preservation law, and there is as of yet no comprehensive environmental law. And so Tai Yung-ti says, "The mountains are virtually in a state of anarchy."

National parks or government-designated forest recreation districts are natural areas under relatively strict control, where management offices and park police maintain the environment. National park law clearly states that "national parks are zones in which vehicles are not allowed to go in areas undesignated for their traffic." But there are few examples of this law actually being enforced. Liu Hsin-ming, head of the preservation research team at Kenting National Park headquarters, says that current personnel aren't enough to give more oversight to jeep activities.

Six or seven years ago jeep industry interests wanted to sponsor a jeep drive on the old road from Penghu's Shakang to Yuanpei, but after the Penghu Scenic Area Planning Group of the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation was established in 1993, it immediately enforced a prohibition, and with the cooperation of the car-rental industry, jeeps haven't driven there since. Yet there are few such examples in Taiwan.

Over the last couple of years, the Pilu hot springs in Chinfeng Rural Township of Taitung County has been a very popular destination among jeepers, who drive upstream along the Taimali River toward the Tawushan Conservation Area. Kuan Li-hao says that last November a jeep washed away in the river current, causing one person to drown. Now local police are cooperating with the Forestry Bureau to bolster control over the Taimali River area, but they are limiting themselves to strictly enforcing permit rules.

Suitable controls, sustainable use

Whether or not anarchy rules in the mountains, concerns about ecological preservation cannot be put on hold. Fang Li-hsing proposes some temporary measures to improve river ecologies here. Since Taiwan's rivers all flow individually to the sea, pollution in one doesn't affect the others. Hence sections of rivers could be closed off for three years to revive their ecologies.

Taking the long view, Liu Chi-chuan argues that if things were managed right with the proper controls, supervised tourism and ecological preservation could go hand in hand. In recent years nations around the world have been establishing national parks and ecological conservation zones. Selected areas within them could be opened for limited access to tourists. The goals of access and conservation could both be accomplished. Fang Li-hsing, for instance, says that if the Fengchuisha dunes were opened for jeeps during the period of the strong northeast winds, they would be covered with a new layer of sand after just a few days. For the rest of the year, jeeps would not be allowed in, in order to preserve the dunes' appearance. "In this way," Liu says, "maintaining the dunes would consume little or no resources, and they could be kept for sustainable use."

In Taiwan the Fushan Botanical Gardens is the first site to implement controls over the numbers of people allowed in, and it is closed during animals' breeding seasons, in order to maintain the ecological balance within the park. The Tourism Bureau is proceeding with the national plan to open up the mountains to tourists while trying as best it can to strike the right balance between resource preservation and recreation. But Liang Ming-pen points out that the government lacks guides and adequate planning and is always a step behind development. Taiwan, moreover, is so small that when a favored spot is discovered, people are drawn to it like a swarm of hornets. The state of recreation in the mountains is a mess.

A more basic problem is that landscape surveys and records and natural resource estimates are all insufficient in Taiwan, and it is quite unclear which areas can be opened up, which should have restricted access, and which should be completely closed off. Kuan Li-hao notes that for the immediate future, jeeps traveling up into the mountains are like small boats heading out to sea-even if not given permits, "they will still go."

With government regulations insufficient and a shortage of resources devoted to ecological protection, it is of paramount importance that four-wheelers regulate themselves. Most jeepers who go up into the mountains are true lovers of nature, and if they, with the help of the 4X4 Association, were able to understand the ecologies of the mountains and swamps, taking care not to disturb river beds that are propagation areas for fish species, or even go beyond self-control to act as volunteer environmental watchdogs and inform the authorities of illegal felling and other behavior that threatens the mountain environment, then they would no longer bear the ugly monikers "players of barbaric games" and "environmental terminators" and instead be regarded as good soldiers in the fight to preserve Taiwan's mountain forests. Can a balance be struck between jeep adventure and ecological preservation? It depends upon the degree to which these armored mountain friends can practice what they preach.

p.32

The aura of danger surrounding jeeps' mountain adventures obscures concerns about the environmental damage they wreak.

p.34

The off-road capabilities of jeeps can be traced back to their original design as war-time "general purpose" vehicles for the military. Seizing beachheads is one of the activities at which they excel. In the early years after the war only the armed forces were allowed to use jeeps, and in many people's minds the jeep is still bound up with images of heroism.

For Forestry Bureau and Telecommunications Bureau personnel who frequent Taiwan's mountain forests, jeeps are essential tools of their trade.

p.35

Driving jeeps along forest roads, people leave the urban hubbub behind to find themselves caught unaware by the mountains' embrace. As they cast their eyes on the all-enveloping greenery, listen to the bird song floating in the wind, and take deep breaths of the clean mountain air, they find that both body and spirit are refreshed. Jeeps indeed make it much easier to enter the mountains.

p.36

Many four-wheelers customize their vehicles to take them cross country. With larger tires and a higher chassis, off-road capabilities greatly improve. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)

p.37

"Passing, passing, here comes a little turtle." Jeepers respect the instructions of their team leader absolutely. They move in an orderly line and communicate via two-way radio.

p.38

River beds are classic jeep-driving terrain, but they are also the breeding grounds for many animals. In their pursuit of pleasure, jeepers have destroyed countless animal homes. It's the biggest problem with these off-road excursions.

p.39

The nearly extinct varicorhinus alticorpus is just one of many animal species that breed in river shallows. In one year's time, fry only seven or eight centimeters long will grow into 20 centimeter adult fish-but only if people don't disturb them. (photo by Cheng Yuan-ching)

p.40

Sand dunes form natural sites to test one's jeep driving skills. The famous Fengchuishamo Dunes of Kenting attract four-wheelers from far and wide, who pose a great challenge to provincewide efforts of the Foresty Bureau to prevent dunes from blowing away with the wind. (photo by Li Yi-lung)

p.41

The old Talang (Stomping Wave) Road in Yuanpei of Penghu is a good place for visitors to get their feet wet. Six and seven years ago it was also a favorite wheeling ground of jeeps, but ever since the government banned four-wheelers from this area, they haven't stomped on any waves here. (photo by Huang Li-li)

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"Forward! Forward!" On a small mountain road jeeps press slowly forward to enter the loving embrace of the mountains. How to engage in 4X4 recreation and simultaneously preserve the environment so that future generations can enjoy the same pleasures, is the question now facing jeep enthusiasts.

Hong Kong Island by night.

The aura of danger surrounding jeeps' mountain adventures obscures concerns about the environmental damage they wreak.

The off-road capabilities of jeeps can be traced back to their original design as war-time "general purpose" vehicles for the military. Seizing beachheads is one o f the activities at which they excel. In the early years after the war only the armed forces were allowed to use jeeps, and in many people's minds the jeep is still bound up with images of heroism.

For Forestry Bureau and Telecommunications Bureau personnel who frequent Taiwan's mountain forests, jeeps are essential tools of their trade.

Driving jeeps along forest roads, people leave the urban hubbub behind t o find themselves caught unaware by the mountains' embrace. As they cast their eyes on the all-enveloping greenery, listen to the bird song floating in the wind, and take deep breaths of the clean mountain air, t hey find that both body and spirit are refreshed. Jeeps indeed make it much easier to enter the mountains.

Many four-wheelers customize their vehicles to take them cross country. With larger tires and a higher chassis, off-road capabilities greatly improve. （photo by Pu Hua-chih）

"Passing, passing, here comes a little turtle." Jeepers respect the instructions of their team leader absolutely. They move in an orderly line and communicate via two- way radio.

River beds are classic jeep-driving terrain, but they are also the breeding grounds for many animals. In their pursuit of pleasure, jeepers have destroyed countless animal homes. It's the biggest problem with these off-road excursions.

The nearly extinct varicorhinus alticorpus is just one of many animal species that breed in river shallows. In one year's time, fry only seven or eight centimeters long w ill grow into 20 centimeter adult fish--but only if people don't disturb them. （photo by Cheng Yuan-ching）

Sand dunes form natural sites to test one's jeep driving skills. The famous Fengchuishamo Dunes of Kenting attract four-wheelers from far and wide, who pose a great challenge to province-wide efforts of the Foresty Bureau to prevent dunes from blowing away with the wind. （photo by Li Yi-lung）