Forests are critical to the ecological balance of the earth. However, natural disasters and manmade damages are posing a severe threat to forest resources, calling for effective means of forest management and protection (M&P). Therefore, this paper designs and applies an intelligent patrol algorithm for forest M&P based on cutting-edge techniques like the global positioning system (GPS). Firstly, the information of forest road and the forest road network were obtained with the aid of the GPS. Next, the Dijkstra's algorithm was adopted to identify the shortest patrol path for the M&P personnel and realize the intelligent patrol algorithm, in the light of the key points in forest M&P and the responsible areas of the M&P personnel. Together, the forest road network, M&P route planning and intelligent patrol form an effective framework for high-quality forest M&P. The research results shed new light on the protection of forest resources.

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