• The Journal of the Korean Institute of Forest Recreation
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.71-81
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• 2018

It is necessary to build a quality-enhancing forest leisure sports facility according to values that value life quality, national forest policy. Vita Parcours (fitness trails) is found to be the activities highly convenient, so their introduction and promotion in Korea should be highly considered. field survey was necessary to explore the possibility of installing Vita Parcours. Several sites were selected, such as Asean recreational forest, Unaksan recreational forest, Yumyeongsan recreational forest, Saneum recreational forest, Jungmisan recreational forest and National center for forest therapy. At these locations, we explored the current status of forest facilities and forest trails. A total number of 31 exercise facilities has been identified and surveyed, some of which are located on the trails (2), alongside the trail (9), alongside trail boundaries (2) or represent facilities suitable for both outdoor and indoor exercise within the forest (18), all of whom provide location for 44 different exercise routines (flexibility exercises (23), endurance (12) and strength exercises (9)). Field work also included identification of forests paths, the total number of whom was 34 paths - 30 identified as trails, 2 as hiking trails, 1 as a forest path for relaxation and healing and 1 as an exploratory path. Regarding the structure and shape of these trails, 32 was straight in shape and only 2 designed as a circular forest trails. Average length of these trails was 652.2m with the highest and the lowest point altitude difference of 60m, on average. Saneum recreational forest provide the most suitable site/environment for Vita Parcours and as a result of this, Saneum recreational forest is proposed as a location to support the endeavors in promotion of these valuable forest fitness trails. Among the forest paths at this site, a forest path which has a length of 1.84km and 73.0m the highest and the lowest point altitude difference was selected as the most suitable, and may be equipped with necessary stations for exercise or obstacles. In addition, if these trails are to be introduced and welcomed by its users, we must assure that they are properly maintained.