Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
quo perspective and then through the lens of the nature reserve proposal and plan—will
help shed light on the conceptions underlying nature reserve designation in western China,
and lead us into a wider-ranging assessment of both the achievements and the tremendous
problems of western Chinese nature reserves.
A traveler entering the Yeniugou portion of the Kunlun Nature Reserve in the year 2020
would immediately notice that what had once been a valley inhabited only by a few pastoral
families had become a rather more populated and busy place. A modern entrance station,
occupied by a staff of seven or eight, would sit at the valley's entrance, along with a newly
constructed bridge over the Yeniugou River (where an oft-treacherous ford had earlier
prevented vehicular access). The main road would now be paved throughout its 110-kilo-
meter length, and an additional 140 kilometers of improved (albeit unpaved) road would
now lead into the various tributary valleys, on which some of the new reserve's thirteen
vehicles would drive for patrolling and photographing wildlife to popularize the area. Most
of these vehicles would be based at the station headquarters in Golmud, which in addition
to a full office, would include a research center, a staff training center, and a museum,
complete with mounted specimens of wildlife for educational tours. Four additional guard
stations further up the valley would be manned, each equipped with coal stoves for heating,
generator-powered electricity, telephones (connected via lines supported by an 80-km-long
line of concrete posts), computers, television sets, and DVD players. At each, in addition to
the permanent staff of two or three and possibly visiting researchers or government digni-
taries, one would find staff members' families, as well as small herds of livestock kept for
their personal consumption. Piles of household garbage as well as coal for fuel would, no
doubt, encircle each building. A particularly treacherous road would snake up toward one
of Yeniugou's higher peaks to a fire lookout, where intrepid staff would be posted.
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Back at the main station, our traveler would find not only a well-equipped office build-
ing, but also a kitchen, a storage warehouse, a garage, and a small weather station. Most
attention, however, would be focused on the newly established captive breeding center,
which would function as a display of wildlife, probably including chiru, that otherwise
would be difficult for visitors to observe.
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Support staff and facilities for the breeding
center staff would no doubt be found nearby.
Most users of the newly paved road would not be reserve staff, however. They would
instead be tourists attracted by the Daoist symbolism of Yeniugou, their numbers swelled
by advertising efforts supported by the reserve administration.
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Their numbers would not be
unlimited: reserve capacity had been set at 1,260 tourists per day, so it is unlikely that more
than 200 vehicles would make the round-trip daily. To cater to them, five yurt-like tents
would have been set up along their route, along with a small restaurant and entertainment
center, where tourists could watch ethnic dancing in the evening. To further their interest
in wildlife, an additional six tents would be set up specifically where wildlife was most
likely to congregate and at which the tourists could attempt to photograph wildlife.
Nor would the pastoralists and their livestock be gone. True, a few would have been
moved from the westernmost section of the valley, but most would remain. All would
live in permanent homes, and have clearly demarcated grazing areas. In addition to these
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