Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
Giant Panda Habitat: Long road to recovery
By Wang Ying
very well as a large falling stone
almost killed me in Dujiangyan at 10
am on October 16," he says. "I felt
the ground suddenly jerking up and
down, making it hard to stand. The
falling stone, as large as a cooking
pot, fell toward my head at great
speed while I was measuring the
size of a landslide near a mountain
at Longchi Park."
Nearly six months after the May 12
earthquake devastated southwest
China’s Sichuan Province, local
residents are making big strides as
they rise above the rubble.
However, it was still unknown how
the catastrophe affected the local
ecosystem and wildlife in the steep
forest-covered mountains that are
home to many endangered wildlife
including the giant pandas.
Few dared enter the mountains over
the July to September rainy season
due to fears of aftershocks and
landslides.
The massive earthquake mainly
jolted the Minshan and Qionglai
mountains in Sichuan and Gansu as
well as the Qinling mountains in
Shaanxi, the main habitat area of
giant pandas and one of the world's
key biodiversity areas.
Jiang Zhongjuan (center) and his fellow rangers
on a panda survey at Longxi-Hongkou nature
reserve in Sichuan province. © Zhu Yundong
To learn more about the postearthquake impact of the giant
panda habitat in Sichuan, WWF
launched a field survey in the
Minshan Mountains in mid-October.
Jiang's quick reflexes got him out of
harm's way just in time for him to
see the huge rock land several
centimeters from his feet. There
were two further aftershocks later
that day, causing Jiang and his
colleagues to rush out of their shelter,
an abandoned, collapsed house at a
village on their monitoring route.
First Panda traces found in the
first field survey
Ranger Jiang Zhongjun, 36, is a
calm person who has experienced
hundreds of dangerous situations in
his 12 years of patrolling the
Minshan Mountains in northern
Sichuan but the aftershocks of the
May 12 earthquake still stet him
shudder.
"Three aftershocks a day! I still felt
the ground was moving several days
later," says Jiang.
That day was the first day rangers
had entered Longchi Park at the
Longxi-Hongkou nature reserve in
Sichuan since the earthquake jolted
"I remember one of the latest ones
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
forest 2,000 m above sea level. He
measured the size of the feces,
recorded the detailed location and
ground situation of the site and
collected samples for further lab
analysis.
southwest China nearly six months
earlier.
Jiang was part of a field trip
collecting first-hand material on how
the earthquake affected wildlife and
the habitat of giant pandas in the
Minshan and Qionglai mountains in
Sichuan, the main habitat of giant
pandas and one of the world's 25
key biodiversity areas.
"It was rare to find giant panda
traces in the wild even before the
earthquake because the animal tries
hard to avoid human beings," he
says.
Organized by the World Wide Fund
for Nature (WWF) and local forestry
departments, the two-week field trip
was the first survey on the impact of
the quake on giant panda habitats in
Sichuan.
The giant panda's three basic living
requirements are water, bamboo and
flat areas, with slopes of less than
30-40 degrees. The group's chances
of finding giant panda traces were
quite rare as the panda meeting
places were greatly reduced by the
disaster, Jiang says.
Aftershocks and mudflows caused
by rain had kept people out of the
mountains
ever
since
the
devastating quake, measuring 8.0 on
the Richter scale, killed more than
80,000 people and destroyed tens of
thousands of houses.
Field survey for panda habitat
restoration
The
pilot survey chose the
Qianfoshan and Longxi-Hongkou
nature
reserves,
two
heavily
damaged panda reserves in Sichuan,
to get a general idea of the
earthquake's damage on the local
ecosystem.
Despite the several aftershocks,
Jiang had been longing for the field
survey and experienced a moment
of great, albeit brief, joy when he
found evidence of giant pandas still
More
than
40
rangers
and
researchers took part, setting up 15
monitoring lines, each stretching 10
to 40 km. Their daily treks, often
more than 30 km, made the days
long and exhausting but all coped
thanks to their years of field
experience.
Zhu Yundong, 31, a ranger from
Xiaozhaizigou nature reserve in
Beichuan county, whose 5-year-old
twin boys were killed in the
earthquake, went on the trip to help
collect evidence of wildlife in the
Panda’s feces found in Longxi-Hongkou survey.
© Jiang Zhongjun
living in the wild.
At the Longxi-Hongkou nature
reserve, Jiang found fresh giant
panda feces in the dense bamboo
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
Bioscience Institute of Sichuan
University, who also attended the
survey.
giant panda habitat. Zhu, whose wife
is still in hospital with heavy injuries
caused by the earthquake, has
developed a sharp nose to
distinguish wild animal traces.
Wild pandas' innate survival instincts
would have alerted them to flee
quake-triggered landslides on high
ground.
"The earthquake might not have
caused direct population loss to
the pandas but it would have
damaged their habitats and
blocked their migration routes,
which may affect the animal's
breeding in the future." Ran says.
Rangers and scientists had to cross dangerous
trails.
He discovered dozens of traces of
wild animals like leopard cats, musk
deer, tufted deer and pheasants.
To compare the wildlife situation
before and after the disaster, the
survey covered all the former
monitoring and patrolling routes in
the two nature reserves before the
earthquake.
The field survey result will help to develop future
restoration plans.
“Final report of the pilot survey will
be complete by the end of November
and other nature reserves will also
conduct such survey in the near
future to present a detailed and
complete view of the earthquake
impact to the ecosystem.” says
Wang Tao, deputy director of the
Qianfoshan nature reserve. The
survey
result
will
help
conservationists to develop future
"Wild animal traces including giant
pandas' have obviously decreased,
compared
with
before
the
earthquake," he says.
It is unknown how many wild pandas
were killed or injured in the
earthquake as no panda corpses
have been found in the wild so far,
says Prof Ran Jianghong, from the
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
plans to restore panda habitat.
At the Longxi-Hongkou nature
reserve, 34 percent of vegetation
was lost due to the earthquake,
according to remote sensing results.
Panda habitat and migration
routes damaged
Xu Weihua, a researcher at the
Research
Center
for
EcoEnvironmental Sciences under the
Chinese Academy of Sciences,
joined the field survey in Sichuan to
see if the situation in the nature
reserves tallied with the remote
sensing results.
There are around 1,600 pandas in
the wild, according to figures from
the State Forestry Administration.
The pandas live in 67 nature
reserves in western China's Sichuan,
Shaanxi and Gansu provinces 1,200 in Sichuan, 300 in Shaanxi
and 100 in Gansu.
"We found that the ground situation
of the vegetation damage was
basically in accordance with the
remote sensing results we obtained
months ago," Xu says.
The administration estimated in June
that the panda habitat area affected
by the earthquake reached 1.96
million hectares, or 83 percent of the
country's total giant panda habitat
areas, according to remote sensing
surveys.
"When giant panda’s population in a
habitat is less than 60, the giant
pandas are easy to fall inbreeding
which leads to gene degradation,"
Professor Ran Jianghong says. The
latest national giant panda survey
found only 35 pandas in the habitat
of southern section of Minshan
mountains where located four nature
reserves.
Twenty-seven out of the 40 giant
panda nature reserves in Sichuan
and eight out of the 20 nature
reserves in Shaanxi, as well as all
the seven nature reserves in Gansu
In that case, the Tudiling corridor in
Maoxian county, the important
channel linking the giant panda
group in southern and northern
Minshan Mountains will be critical for
the panda’s migration. However, the
newly-formed Tangjiashan quake
lake inundated roads connecting
Beichuan to the outside world,forcing
local people take the road of the
corridor.
The construction plans of a road
connecting Jiuzhaigou and Chengdu
in Sichuan and a railway connecting
Lanzhou in Gansu and Chongqing
have been suspended due to the
earthquake.
The
two
large
were
Large damaged.
area of landslide at Qianfoshan NR.
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
cannot quickly recover, the food
chain of the giant panda will break
and the panda group in the Qinling
mountains
will
be
completely
separated from that in Sichuan," Li
says.
construction projects will pass the
panda preserves.
Professor Ran hopes that the
post-disaster reconstruction work
will take into account of the
protection of giant panda's habitat
and migrant routes to prevent
artificial
blockage
and
fragmentation.
Panda
Protection
destroyed
system
The earthquake also caused severe
damage to the panda protection
system. The Sichuan Forestry
Bureau Eighty panda protection
stations were affected, while others,
such as Gaochuan station in the
Qianfoshan Reserve, were reduced
to rubble.
In nearby Shaanxi province, local
forestry departments are considering
restoring some bamboo forests after
recently monitoring and patrolling in
Qinling Mountains, the main giant
panda habitat in Shaanxi.
No trace of any panda life was found
during the week-long monitoring and
patrolling in the nature reserve but
rangers found extensive damage to
large areas of bamboo forests, the
giant panda's only food.
Many protection stations located
above 2,000 meters were the
hardest hit, bureau officials say.
Structures were severely damaged
as were computer systems and
years of archived information. At
Wolong, the quake also ruined a
large number of specimens used in
panda research.
Wang Ge, a researcher from the
International Network for Bamboo
and Rattan, says one reason for the
demise of the bamboo forests is the
change in ground conditions and
local climate caused by the quake.
The snowstorms earlier this year
also destroyed a large area of
bamboo trees, leading to a plague of
rats and further damage in Shaanxi,
he says.
To make things worse, the most
badly affected bamboo forest areas,
more than 300 hectares, bordered
Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu
provinces and were on the giant
panda's migration route, says Li
Qingbao, director of the reserve's
administrative bureau.
Gaochuan protection station at Qianfoshan NR
destroyed by earthquake.
“The greatest difficulty is that our
protection was almost totally wiped
out overnight after over 30 years of
growth. It will take a long time to
recover,” says Fan Zhiyong, director
of the WWF species programme.
"If a large area of bamboo forests
died on this migration route and
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
to help us conduct biodiversity
surveys in the disaster areas in the
future,” Yan said. “We hope our
influence will help speed up the
restoration process.”
WWF's post-earthquake work has
focused on getting protection
stations up and running as quickly as
possible. GPS systems, computers,
cameras, trucks as well as technical
and financial support have been
provided to start new panda habitat
monitoring and patrolling. Two
temporary protect stations were also
set up at the Baishuihe Reserve and
Anzihe Reserve with support from
WWF.
A double-edged sword
"For conservation, the earthquake
was a double-edged sword," says
Xu Weihua from the Chinese
Academy of Sciences. "When
landslides block roads, destroy
houses and bury farmland, humans
have to move out, leaving their
former land to wildlife," he says.
With road access extremely limited
in some quake-affected areas,
human impact has been reduced to
a minimum. Reports suggest that
wildlife populations in Sichuan’s
Longxi-Hongkou
and
Baishuihe
reserves have thrived as a result.
The temporary protection station supported by
WWF at Baishuihe NR.
Preliminary survey and patrolling in
Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces has
finished,
which
means
more
research projects in disaster-affected
areas will start.
But even with more research
underway, gathering funds to
rebuild nature reserves has
proven challenging. With most
government money has been
earmarked
to
resolve
local
people’s housing problems, which
puts Sichuan’s 27 badly damaged
nature reserves on the back
burner.
Quake lake inundates a hydropower station in
Qianfoshan NR
"Traces of musk deer, leopard cat,
tufted deer and sambar deer can
now easily be found
in areas that previously saw few wild
animals," Xu says.
Yan Yongbi, a Forestry Department
official from Anxian country near the
epicenter of the earthquake, says
dozens of houses at Sichuan’s 80
protection stations collapsed and
major infrastructure was damaged.
In nearby Shaanxi, earthquake
damage has forced out many longterm residence out of another giant
panda habitat, the Qingmuchuan
Reserve. Reports say the area’s
environment is also benefiting as a
“We are trying to find more support
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
New roads, power stations, mines
and massive tourist projects have
caused irreparable damage to some
of
China’s
richest
wildlife
depositories, the Minshan and
Qionglai mountains among them.
result.
China’s large population means that
land resources are limited. This is a
cause for alarm, notes WWF China’s
Fan Zhiyong: "Human beings
entered the heart of natural forests
and mountains for mining, logging,
poaching and farming, which has
greatly damaged the sanctuary
wildlife once had," he said.
“The
top
concern
during
reconstruction
should
be
reducing human disturbance on
the environment.” Fan Zhiyong
says.
One look at the decline of the giant
panda population says as much.
There were roughly 2,500 wild
pandas in the 1970s, but the number
now stands at fewer than 1,600,
according to WWF and Chinese
government survey from 1999-2003.
Balancing human needs with the
policies and actions necessary to
ensure panda habitats are restored
to optimal health is a formidable
challenge. If funds are available for
relocation of local residents, reserve
staff may have an easier time
ensuring the precious habitat is
naturally restored. But if funding
simply isn’t available, the challenges
will be greater. The situation does
indeed present a razor sharp doubleedged sword.
The establishment of new nature
reserves has helped keep the panda
population in balance. So has a
1998 ban on logging in natural
forests. But progress has been
blighted by large-scale infrastructure
construction, leaving many groups in
fragmented and isolated locations.
Community matters
WWF has launched surveys to learn
how the May 12th earthquake
impacted communities located on or
near nature reserves.
Using a new study tool called Rapid
Environmental Impact Assessment in
Disasters (REIAD), survey teams
have discovered that running water,
electricity and building material
shortages need to be urgently
addressed.
Prof Ran Jianghong lights incense to mourn the
dead by an earthquake lake in Qianfoshan NR, at
a hyrdopowder station buried more than 100
people
Through questionnaire sampling
covering 30% of a residential
community, group discussions, and
village
assembly,
investigators
looked into strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats villages
faced in their future development.
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
blocked up rivers in high altitude
areas effectively choking off all of the
village’s water resources.
The destruction of hydropower
stations in reserves, for example,
means many local residences have
been forced to rely on firewood to
supply their cooking and heating
needs. This comes at considerable
cost to the environment.
To help solve the drinking water
problem, WWF is planning to build a
water pipe.
Liu Fangxiang at the public kitchen, worries
about the future life.
A temporary boarding house at Lianghe village.
38-year-old villager Liu Fanxiang, a
mother of two teenage boys, is
concerned about her family's future
life as most of their kiwi and officinal
magnolia trees were damaged in the
disaster.
To remedy this, WWF plans to
launch a project later this year that
will provide 45 biomass gasifier
stoves
to
three
residential
communities in the Wolong Nature
Reserve. Surveys determined that
the move would help reduce local
people’s reliance on firewood.
"Without enough water, we cannot
resume farming. We won’t be able to
make any money this year," Liu says.
Most village families earn an
average of 2,000-3,000 RMB per
year, lower than other villages near
the reserve, she says.
Lianhe village was devastated in the
earthquake, with 5 dead and 99% of
its houses destroyed. Of its 428
people, most relied on farming and
livestock for survival, but few can
now support themselves.
"Many people visited us after the
earthquake," she says. "We hope
they will bring more development
projects to help us improve our
lives."
Lianhe entire village was relocated
to a temporary residential site 20
kilometers from its original location.
Power lines, roads, farmland and the
forest that surrounded the village
were all destroyed, cutting off major
sources
of
income.
Lianhe’s
population is now completely reliant
on meager government subsidies.
The total destruction of their homes,
possessions and livelihoods often
leaves earthquake victims feeling
empty and lost.
"WWF
drama
Making matters worse, landslides
8
has organized painting,
workshops
and
other
Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
mushrooms.
activities to add a little color to
peoples’ lives. In one case, we’re
going to encourage people to paint
the walls of their make-shift houses,"
says Chen Can from WWF’s
Chengdu office.
But the disaster forced all 727
people living near the reserve to
move elsewhere. Government will
help local people build new homes,
which will also push them deep into
debt. Few will be able to find new
opportunities to earn a living.
"If local people cannot obtain
other sources of income, they
might start using mountain
resources," says Li Qingbao,
director of the administrative bureau
of the nature reserve.
children play at a make-shift primary school of
Longxi-Hongkou NR
"WWF will help us carry out
community development projects like
beekeeping and tea planting in the
future. This will help prevent locals
from relying on the forest as a
source of income," Li says.
Tang Lu, a 6-year-old girl, was very
excited that her school library
received a number of new books
donated by WWF: "I love painting
and I like the new picture books in
our library," Tang says.
A "Green reconstruction" concept
has also been introduced to
conserve resources in earthquakestricken areas.
To consume fewer resources, WWF
has been calling for the use of
environmentally-friendly construction
material when rebuilding houses.
Officinal magnolia farms destroyed in the quake.
In nearby Shaanxi province, the
earthquake destroyed most of the
houses in residential communities
around the Qingmuchuan Reserve,
pushing many deep into the grip of
poverty.
Before the earthquake, villages
around the nature reserve were very
poor and young people went out to
work, leaving only the elderly and
children at home. Most made a living
raising
pigs
and
cultivating
Kiwi fruit is the main income source of local
villagers after earthquake at Longxi-hongkou NR.
Dubbed the “Green Heart of China,"
9
Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
the quake-stricken area is located in
the upper reaches of the Yangtze
River, which is also home to the
Qinling, Minshan and Qionglai
mountains. The area is a biodiversity
hotspot and habitat for the giant
panda and other rare species.
landscapes."
"Restoration of this “’Green Heart,’”
says Ling Lin, director of WWF’s
Chengdu office, “plays a key role in
China's
sustainable
ecological
development. Proper treatment will
ensure China holds on to own one of
the world’s most valuable natural
"Reconstruction is long-term work.
Be we will work with partners from
home and abroad to make sure our
contributions count," Ling says.
Ling
reveals
that
WWF
is
considering a five-year "Green
Reconstruction"
framework
to
include recommendations and ideas
from experts around the world.
(All the photos except credited are taken by
WangYing.)
10
Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
Mountain in recovery
Qingmuchuan’s first monitoring patrol since the May 12th earthquake
Text / Photo By Chen Xu
picture. But only a few hundred
meters away sat a group of
ramshackle tents, other small
structures, and the ruins of mud
houses that reminded me of the
horrible effects of the earthquake. It’s
far from over. People are still trying
to recover from the damage. The
Yuquanba Protection Station office,
for example, collapsed in the quake
and staff has since worked out of
small makeshift offices. They say it’s
better than working in tents.
Six months have passed since the
th
devastating May 12 earthquake
struck western China’s Sichuan
Province. Though there are still
aftershocks, locals are trying to
break away from horrible memories
and stagger back into a normal daily
life. And so, it seems, is the wildlife.
The Qingmuchuan Nature Reserve
is the only corridor for giant pandas
between the Qinling and Minshan
mountains, but Qinling Mountain
also hit hard by the quake. How is
the reconstruction work going? And
how much has been restored
naturally? We are keeping our eyes
on how this area of rich
biodiversity—for both humans and
wildlife like the giant panda—
recovers from this catastrophe.
With support from WWF, I visited
Qingmuchuan Nature Reserve at
Ningqiang County of Shaanxi
Province in October 2008 in hope of
finding answers.
Most houses collapsed
Qingmuchuan Nature Reserve is
surrounded by a few small
settlements. On the morning of Oct.
11th, I traveled to the town of
Qingmuchuan with staff from the
nature reserve. Making good time,
we stopped at a bridge to take in the
surroundings. Rising all around us
were rough green-ridged mountains
with the grey tips of small houses
peaking out of the foliage at their
base—a perfectly hushed, pastoral
Most of the house at Changshaba village
collapsed in the earthquake and the after raining
season. Tents donated by WWF helped villagers a
lot in the past five months.
We started out again. It didn’t take
us long to reach Qingmuchuan, and
one of the first things I noticed were
the spider webs of cracks crawling
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
and couch grass.
over the remaining buildings. For
safety, all houses have tents out
front. And for those without houses,
earthquake shelter tents are the only
choice.
I watched as Shen Zuorui did her
homework on a stone slab. She is
nine, and lives in Village Two at
Changshaba with her four family
members. When asked where her
home is, she pointed to a shed and
the tilted house behind; tears welled
up in her eyes. Her father told me
she was in Grade Three at
Qingmuchuan Primary School, about
10km from her home. And with the
last mushroom harvest just around
the corner, the government-led
relocation plan would go into full
swing. At the foot of the mountain,
the government offered 70 square
meter temporary prefab housing to
each family. “We have to manage
living in such a space while we wait
for a chance to build a new house.
The winter is coming, and we will
freeze to death if we continue to
live in a shed. Anyway, it’s not safe
to live here anymore,” said a local
man.
We arrived at our destination. I saw
another small temporary structure
functioning as the Qingmuchuan
Protection Station. Around the area
were a group of tents that differed
from the others—chance had it that
they were donated by WWF.
Villagers say the tents have helped a
lot over the past few months.
Village One at Changshaba is in the
core area of the nature reserve. It is
also in total disrepair. There are
around 50 families living there, but
most able-bodied youth have left to
find work after much of their
farmland was returned to forestry.
Other villagers are working hard on
the limited remaining land, raising
pigs and planting mushrooms to
supplement their incomes. Even this
meager amount of farming hasn’t
been easy: the earthquake tore a
1km long cleft in the mountain. If a
strong aftershock where to hit the
area, it’s likely the entire mountain
would collapse and the village
reduced to rubble. The government
is pushing to relocate the village:
many local residents will leave their
mountain homes soon.
Five members of the nine year-old girl's family
live in the shed behind her.
Although many wood and mud
houses survived, their roofs simply
weren’t strong enough to handle the
torrential rainstorms that came later.
With
their
houses
destroyed,
villagers moved to tents at the foot of
the mountain and waited for relief
housing to arrive. Most of their
possessions were lost and their
homes reduced to little more than
small sheds covered in branches
But not all of the materials needed to
complete the prefab housing were
available. They could do nothing but
wait.
Fenlinba Village is in the core area
of the Qingmuchuan Reserve. Few
houses are left standing and no
single family was lucky enough to
escape the damage the earthquake
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
Such rough methods of keeping
bees are somehow incredible--but
these are the living conditions of the
communities on the nature reserve.
caused. Those unwilling to leave
stayed in the tents provided by WWF,
while many of the area’s youth
moved out of the mountain. Many
elderly residents say that in
November, the whole village will be
relocated, leaving their land to the
nature reserve. Only Fenlinba
Protection Station will stay.
The area is mired in poverty, with the
damage forcing some 727 villagers
to move. Though given some
government allowance, each new
house on the Qingmuchuan Reserve
would take on a huge debt load. But
relocating will increase overall
community living standards and help
restore the area’s natural balance.
Protection and management on the
nature reserve, however, will fall
entirely on the shoulders of its staff.
The villagers from Changshanba and
Fenlinba have been helping with
protection and volunteer work over
the past few years. The quake has
pushed
most
villagers
into
poverty, which means locals
might be forced to use protected
mountain resources to make ends
meet. WWF Xian Office and
Qingmuchuan Nature Reserve have
adjusted work plans to deal with
potential threats.
I asked them how they would make
a living in the future: “maybe the
young men can go out as migrant
workers, and the elderly and children
just stay behind,” one resident
suggested.
Fenlinba Protection Station didn’t
survive. The earthquake shook the
structure to the ground, with one
large rock smashing though the
upper portion of Wei Shunqiang’s
bunk.
“I was so lucky!” he noted. “If I had
been taking a nap or if the
earthquake happened at night, I
would have been killed by that rock.”
With much of their routine work
shaken to pieces, the staff at
Fenlinba moved into tents while
waiting for construction to finish.
WWF
has
plans
to
launch
community development projects on
the
reserve.
The
earthquake
damaged many homes, and the
aftershocks stopped beekeeping as
well as tea planting and some local
tourism. The change from protection
to development at Qingmuchuan has
pushed reserve staff to move
projects to new areas within the
reserve. Using government policies
as guidance and assistance from
WWF, local residents will be able to
start over again in new settlements.
With new guarantees being made for
their livelihoods, the reserve’s
residents will find the mountains a
less attractive source of income.
Rough ways of beekeeping.
The area also has a large number of
beehives. Many were made of logs
and covered by huge pieces of slate
to stop rainwater from leaking in.
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
Xiaojiawan and on to Fenlinba would
take about 5 or 6 hours. We planned
to stay there for the night and cover
the remaining 2 routes over the next
few days.
Signs of Wildlife
Monitoring and patrolling of the
panda’s habitat at Qingmuchuan
started again in October. Conducted
by WWF and its partners, patrols are
slowly but surely getting back to
normal after the earthquake.
We left Changshaba, and after 2
hours of walking we reached our first
stop on the monitoring route: a patch
of farmland that has been returned
to forest. I noticed some newly
planted saplings and several horses
wandering around the area. Horses
are the only transportation villagers’
have in the mountains.
WWF-supported
giant
panda
monitoring and patrolling on Qinling
Mountain,
including
the
Qingmuchuan
Nature
reserve
started in 2005. Through regular field
data collection, special monitoring
and protection regulations were
established to protect giant pandas
and their habitats. The restart of
monitoring is an important foothold in
future plans for reconstruction.
There was a clear boundary
between the forest and what used to
be farmland, and I heard the gentle
trickle of a stream. Dang Xiaowei
told me that we’d reached the
beginning of the monitoring route.
Sitting on a rock, Dang and Mo
Chenqing took out their GPS units
and began to write a journal entry.
The
recommencement
of
monitoring is a monumental event
for the reserve. It means, in part,
that the reserve has overcome
some of the difficulties that go
along
with
post-earthquake
conservation work. It also shows
that they’ve gained an opportunity
to start the field surveys
necessary to monitor the changes
affecting
habitats
and
the
surrounding communities.
There are 5 routes for monitoring
and patrolling on the Qingmuchuan
Reserve. I was sent out with a group
patrolling 3 of them, while others
took on the remaining 2.
I left in the early afternoon on
Oct.11th with reserve staffers Dang
Xiaowei and Mo Chenqing for
Fenlinba. Starting at Changshaba
Village at the core of the reserve,
passing Xietaishan village, and then
down a ridge to the village of
Rolling stones destroyed the monitoring
route.
Monitoring notes and position
recorded, we stepped into the forest
and covered a leaf-covered and
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
torn down and made into a shelter
by one of the animals--chestnut
shells were scattered all over the
ground. The tree above was
completely bare, and in another area
nearby we found more chestnut
shells. The sharp squeak of a rock
squirrel flashed out, protesting the
noise we made. Somewhere nearby
a black bear could have been
vigilantly watching us moving in its
territory.
weedy path. Here we saw more
signs of the quake: a deep groove
was stamped in the earth where a
massive boulder had fallen. Piles of
smashed stones sharply contrasted
to the luxuriant green that infused
the area. I tried to find more
evidence of the earthquake, but Mo
Chenqing said mud and weeds had
covered a lot of damage after the
rainy season and that the vegetation
hid most of the danger.
Because of rain a few days before,
the forest air was humid. Mushrooms
were craning in the grass near the
path, where we could see hoof prints.
Mo Chenqing said it was a wild boar.
We also found some prints made by
the boar’s nose.
Almost out of nowhere, we heard the
angry squeal of an adult boar.
Probably frightened by our approach,
the squealing, snorting boar was
protecting its food.
It was harvest season. There were
ripe wild nuts and grains all over the
mountain. Acorns and chestnuts are
the favorite of both boars and black
bears. We stopped again to listen
and heard the distinct sound of
another boar grunting angrily around
20 meters away. Mo Chenqing
suddenly leaped for a tree, shouting:
“Come up, quickly! The boar is
coming!” Safe in the tree, we quickly
lost track of the boar even though we
kept a close watch on the
underbrush. We descended and the
forest fell into silence: We could hear
nothing but the crunch of leaves
under our feet.
Rangers resorted to the narrow meandering
footpath that's been created in the forests by
takins.
At 1,692 meters we saw more telltale
signs of the earthquake. Broken
rocks lay under a cliff, but above we
found traces and fresh takin
droppings. Later we heard takins
braying in the distance: they might
have been calling their companions
to spend the night together. The
woods were too dense to see any of
them, however. At the very least, the
animals were alive and will continue
to survive in the recovering
landscape.
Later, at around 1,389 meters, we
found traces of a black bear. The
braches of a chestnut tree had been
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Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
The route we took on the morning of
October 12th was first of the five
designated paths. It started at
Fenlinba Protection Station and
continued to Majiashan, looping
around after reaching an altitude of
1,800 meters. The other group would
also reach Fenlinba in the evening
and we would spend the night
together. The next morning we would
again start out on two different
routes
and
finally
meet
at
Qingmuchuan when we completed
the circuit.
evidence of vegetation, especially
arbor.
Both groups started out from
Fenlinba on the morning of the 13th,
taking two different routes. I followed
Wei Shuqiang and Dang Xiaowei on
the second route, walking along the
old path between Shaanxi and
Gansu Provinces until we reached
the boarder, then took the ridge and
followed a stream back to Fenlinba.
After
that
we
hurried
to
Qingmuchuan to meet the other
group and wrap up the monitoring.
Mo Chenqing and Wei Shuqiang left
at dawn, taking a machete with them
to hack a path through the bush.
There were no villages along the
way where Mo and Wei could pick
up supplies, so they had to return to
Fenlinba before dark. Dang Xiaowei
accompanied me on a visit to a
community in the area.
There used to be a lot of people
living along the route; all that
remains now are basic dwellings and
pear trees. We were trudging
through the autumn sunshine, but
found it was too late when we finally
got to the pear trees. The pears on
the first tree were small. They didn’t
taste bad, don’t get me wrong, but
there wasn’t much fruit on them.
Some boar droppings were under
the tree. Wei Shuqiang said there
might still be trees with big juicy
sweet
pears
out
front.
Disappointment struck as soon as
we got there: the pear tree was too
big to climb. There were a few deep
scratches left by black bears on the
trunk, with a pile of discarded
branches at the base. As we
searched for more evidence of the
bear, we noticed the situation was
even worse than we had originally
anticipated: Boars had eaten up
every pear on the ground. We
moved on in hope of finding more,
but quickly discovered that Golden
monkeys, macaque and black bears
had already eaten almost all of the
fruit. We could do nothing with the
pears on the tree but watch and sigh.
Staring at what was left of the fruit
under the trees, Wei Shuqiang
Mo and Wei returned safely from
their trek. I glanced at their journals:
“found a living sambar at 1,224
meters; trace of takin at 1,238
meters; trace of boar at 1,252
meters; found traces of hog badger
at 1,397 meters; traces of black
bears at 1,488 meters; golden
monkeys at 1,801 meters, with
shoots and bark under trees; found a
large area of arrow bamboo that had
grown to 2 or 3 meters; no trace of
giant pandas.” A pity they didn’t find
any evidence of giant pandas,
especially since we are in the only
corridor between Qinling and
Minshan. Where were the pandas?
The other monitoring group was
made up of three members: Liu Tao,
Su Ning and Pang Shihua. They also
made it to Fenlinba before nightfall
on the 12th. I checked their
monitoring journals, finding few
records of living animals but rich
16
Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
with me. The dense woods of
Qingmuchuan still appear to be full
of wildlife.
sighed: “Poor humans! We can only
pick pears like boars do.”
Endangered bamboo
The monitoring routes that start at
Fenlinba border Sichuan, Shaanxi
and Gansu provinces. Walking along
an old path between Shaanxi and
Gansu, the scenery is beautiful and
offers few hints that a devastating
earthquake recently shook the area.
The golden-hued woods above
1,600 meters shone vibrantly against
a blue sky; streams lapped against
lichen covered rocks and plump wild
gooseberry hung for one last
moment before falling off the branch.
But if you looked a little closer,
traces of the destruction that scarred
the area only six months ago weren’t
hard to spot.
A black bear was spotted during the patrolling.
When reaching 1,790 meters on the
second route, we saw some oak
braches shaking wildly. Taking it as
golden monkeys, we rushed there
excitedly. To our astonishment we
didn’t see any monkey, but instead
the fresh paw prints of a black bear
on the trunk. We were totally
shocked! We could be in a lot of
danger if the bear were nearby.
The
first
major
threat
to
Qingmuchuan Nature Reserve
was damaged bamboo, the giant
pandas’ main source of food.
Later we saw a path made by takin
at 1,800 meters above sea level. It
was zigzagging along the mountain
ridge, sometimes going though the
bamboo and sometimes the bush
below the arbor. We had to crouch
and endure branches whipping every
part of our bodies. The smell of fresh
takin urine was in the air. Then we
saw takin hoof prints in mud, both
big and small, walking together.
They could be watching us
somewhere in the deep forest, but
we could not see anything.
The reserve’ management bureau
says 4 strong aftershocks hit
Qingmuchuan after May 12th,
happening on May 25, May 27,
August 1 and September 12 Mudrock flows and rock falls soon began
to seriously damage the reserve’s
bamboo groves, with large areas of
the woody perennial evergreen dying.
Giant pandas were then left with little
to eat.
As we started back I saw a
porcupine quill. It was thrust deeply
into the mud, probably after being
shot at a predator. I picked it up and
wiped off the dust. Judging from its
length and strength, I could tell it
was from a healthy adult, so I kept
the quill and brought it back home
On the second monitoring route, we
saw a huge area of bamboo
blooming, while other tracks had
already flowered and died. More still
has dried up, with only stems left as
a reminder. Walking along the
mountain ridge we could see a
17
Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
prominent border between old and
new bamboo growths. Dang Xiaowei
told me the area represented only a
small part of the endangered
bamboo in the nature reserve.
Natural disasters have harmed
1500 hectares of bamboo at
Qingmuchuan, of which 300
hectares have died, mainly on the
borders between Sichuan and
Gansu Provinces. This area is a
key part of the giant panda corridor
in Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan and
the Qingmuchuan Reserve plays an
irreplaceable role in the mix and
transaction of the giant panda
population. If the bamboo groves
continue to die, the lack of
available food means the giant
panda corridor between Qinglin
and Minshan will cease to exist.
Given that giant pandas cannot
migrate without a reliable food
supply, this would be an absolute
disaster.
Bamboo bloomed in Qingmuchuan NR.
Large area of bamboo died.
Why
was
the
bamboo
in
Qingmuchuan blooming and dying?
Was the earthquake totally to blame?
A report from the International
Network for Bamboo and Rattan
(INBAR) says many factors could
cause the death of bamboo at
Qingmuchuan: the earthquake and
changes in climate and soil;
Rhizomys sinensis, the Chinese
bamboo rat, had devoured the root
systems and pushed the plant down
from 1,300 meters to 1,000 meters;
30% of the bamboo groves on the
shady slopes had been frozen by the
heavy snow in 2008; and large areas
of bamboo died unexplained deaths
in Yindongzi and Maojialiang.
18
But Qingmuchuan is making a
backup plan. According to Li
Baoqing, head of the reserve’s
management bureau, a thorough
survey will be conducted and then
new groves will be planted in
affected areas. They also want to
raise public awareness on the
situation and request outside
assistance to plant bamboo above
900 meters. This, they hope, will
help maintain the only corridor
between Qinling and Minshan.
Urgent reconstruction
Qingmuchuan’s
monitoring trails
were badly damaged by the
earthquake. Few dared risking a trip
into the mountains, so many of the
trails we were trying to follow had
been reclaimed by the mountains.
On the third monitoring route, the
woods above 1,400 meters grew
increasingly dense. Thick masses of
fern flanked both sides of the trail,
while weeds had clamored over what
once provided direction underfoot.
Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
sensing map--experience was no
longer enough to guide us.
Mo Dengqing was familiar with the
area and leading us forward.
The ridge stands at 1,733 meters
above sea level. Though the altitude
didn’t climb much higher, the dense
vegetation made it difficult to move
forward. Since about 1,500 meters
we had to make our way directly
over, on and through the foliage: we
fought against vines underfoot and
branches and thorns overhead.
When reaching 1,600 meters we
walked though bamboo and arbor,
making our way up to the ridge along
the animal path. Large trees
prevented us from getting a view of
the ridge, with the sky appearing in
cracks between massive branches.
We planed to spend 5 hours
reaching our destination, but we only
able to cover half that distance.
The path to the foot of the mountain
was even more difficult to walk on.
Broken rocks caused chaos around
the ridge and we could not even find
a trail made by animals. On top of
that, it was getting dark. We took out
torches, but our lights could only
cover one or two meters ahead in
such dense. We were staggering,
trying to hold on to branches or vines.
Still, we tried to ignore the difficultly
of our journey and move faster.
GPS helped rangers to find ways when lost
With the help of the GPS and
satellite-sensing map, Dang Xiaowei
found out where we were. Checking
old monitoring journals, he said we
were 200 meters away from the
monitoring route. And if all went well,
we would soon arrive at Xiaojiawan.
Relaxing slightly after finding the way,
the pale moonlight enabled us to see
the mountain opposite, where we
found a huge white plate. It was a
gash made by the earthquake, but
now functioned as a trail marker.
Around 40 minutes later we arrived
at Fenlinba Protection Station, our
We were lost. One moment, while
walking on a 10-meter wide belt of
ground, I felt my feet sinking. I
quickly jumped on to a dry trunk on
and informed the rest of the group of
the danger. Looking around with
torches, we found ourselves walking
on an endless crest of a valley. The
earthquake dislodged mud and
stone, and all the plants were
pushed in to a massive pile in the
distant darkness. Dang Xiaowei took
out a GPS and satellite remote
19
Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
destination. We could feel the
warmth from the lights that
surrounded us. I checked the time:
21:34. We spent 8 hours in the forest
on route 3.
clear the way. Wei Shuqiang
mentioned that people coming from
Gansu no longer come this way
when going to Qingmuchuan Town’s
market because of all of the nearby
villages were empty. The thick thorns
and weeds certainly don’t help
matters much either.
Fenlinba Protection Station is special
because of its location. Three paths
from Sichuan and Gansu provinces
unite directly in front of the gate to
Fenlinba Protection Station, and
extend to Qingmuchuan Town. The
station’s location also helped prevent
unwanted and potentially harmful
access to nature reserve.
According
to
Qingmuchuan
Nature
Reserve
staff,
the
earthquake was a double-edged
sword for nature conservation. If
following former plans, it might have
taken over a decade to move
Changshaba Village out of the core
area. But the earthquake forced the
government to move the village out
immediately,
thereby
reducing
human interference while the
reserve healed.
Waking up in the tent on the morning
of the 12th, I was cold. I could not
imagine how the reserve staff could
survive through the winter in this
weather. Outside I saw some lacelike clouds covering the mountains
along the opposite riverbank. Wei
Shuqiang told me I had been walking
down from the very mountains I was
looking at last night. I looked for a
while but could not see any trace of
a path--maybe we just flew down on
the clouds.
Patrolling on the second route was
also hard work. It used to take only 6
six hours round trip, but this time we
spent 9 hours from start to finish.
With no monitoring for 5 months, the
path was hidden under a thick tangle
of weeds. We were lucky that the
weather was cool and no poisonous
Qinling vipers lay in wait as we
struggled along. This may not be the
case in the coming spring and
summer.
Rangers need to traverse frozen rivers many
times.
But
there
are
also
many
disadvantages. In the future, rangers
will face dangerous areas alone. And
without the surrounding villages,
Fenlinba Protection Station will find it
hard to manage its electric bills.
They will thus have to convert to new
alternative energies like solar--but
that would also cost a lot. Road
maintenance could also be a
problem. After the earthquake, huge
boulders blocked off the road to
large vehicles. Reserve residents
also had to traverse frozen—and
sometimes flooded--rivers around 9
On the return journey, we went over
a hillside that was farmland being
returned to forest. The old path was
covered by weeds higher than a
human being and further defended
by thorns; we had to use a scythe to
20
Earthquake Six Months Anniversary
times
before
destinations.
reaching
quake victims is key. Building
temporary houses for villagers from
Changshaba
Village
means,
however, that Ningqiang County will
not be able to afford reconstruction
costs due to limited reconstruction
funds.
their
Most of Qingmuchuan’s 20km of
monitoring trails were damaged by
the collapse of the mountain, falling
rocks and weeds. Rebuilding a safe
monitoring path remains a problem.
The Qingmuchuan Nature Reserve
is in dire need of outside support to
rebuild the giant panda corridor. With
luck, this biodiversity hotspot will
regain its balance.
Basic structures on the nature
reserve were severely damaged as
well. Three protection stations
collapsed, and three other protection
and
education
centers
were
rendered useless hulks. A great deal
of equipment was also destroyed,
which stopped routine office work as
well as field protection and
management. Qingmuchuan’s direct
losses
stand
at
around
RMB4,980,000.
The
costs
of
recovering monitoring abilities to prequake levels are staggering. Where
are the funds for this? With the
arrival of winter, providing shelter for
(Thanks Chris Chaplin for his great effort
on polishing the two articles.)
For further information, please contact:
Zeng Ming,
Communication Manager
Yangtze Programme
WWF China Programme
Tel: +86 10 65227100 ext. 3298
Fax: +86 10 65227300
Email:[email protected]
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