Qiyun Mountain promoted to a national nature reserve

By Zhao Qian ( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2012-03-08

The Qiyun Mountain national nature reserve in Ganzhou of Jiangxi province has been ranked on a list of newly-built national nature reserves released by the General Office of the State Council on Jan 21, 2012.

The Qiyun Mountain nature reserve is lolcated in the northwest of Chongyi county, coving an area of 17,105 hectares. It keeps the original evergreen broad-leaved forest ecosystem of the Nanling mountain land with 97.6 percent forest coverage. As many as 2,843 species of higher plants of 1,031 genera in 270 families have been recorded in the reserve, accounting for 55.9 percent of the total number of higher plants in Jiangxi province.

The vertebrates in the reserve reach 394 species, 101 families and 34 orders, accounting for 46.6 percent of the vertebrates in Jiangxi. There are 17 species of national key protected wild plants and 50 national key protected wild animals.

The nature reserve preserves unique phytocoenosis including Tsuga longibracteata, Exbucklandia tonkinensis and bretschneidera sinensis. The number of Tsuga longibracteata exceeds 270,000, covering an area of 608.5 hectares. The reserve also serves as an important stage for bird migration in Middle China, seeing hundreds of thousands of birds flying between the south and north each year.

Qiyun Mountain being promoted to a national nature reserve will better protect the forest ecosystem, species diversity and precious animals and plants in this region. More investments, research bases and projects will be attracted here to promote economic and social development in a local place.