Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
helpful in removing an additional but uninteresting source of variation). The sites were
visited over a number of years, and if my observations were biased, at least such biases
were likely to have remained consistent throughout. Each area (summarized in Table 2.2)
differed in history of use, degree of integration with the larger market economy, ethnic
group involved with pastoralism, mixture of livestock species, and—at least according
to my qualitative observations over the years—range condition and trend.
From the wettest to the driest, the four study sites were the Baizha Forest in Nangqian
County, Qinghai (at approximately 31° 45
'
N and 96° 45
'
E); Fifth Brigade (
wu dui
)
in Gouli Township, Dulan County, toward the eastern (and thus wettest) portion of the
Kunlun Mountains (at approximately 35° 30
'
N and 98° 30
'
E); Yeniugou in Golmud
municipality, situated approximately 475 kilometers further west along the Kunlun chain
(at approximately 35° 45
'
N and 93° 30
'
E); and Jianshe Township in Aksai County,
Gansu, situated at the western end of the Qilian Mountains (at approximately 39° N and
95° 30
'
E) (see Map 2). Because none had weather stations, I developed a regression
equation using latitude and longitude (and which explained about three-fourths of varia-
tion in total annual precipitation recorded at thirty-seven weather stations in Qinghai,
western Sichuan, eastern Tibet, western Gansu, and eastern Xinjiang) from which I
interpolated approximate precipitation at the study areas.
57
In all four cases, summer
grazing occurred between approximately 3,800 and 4,500 meters (although elevations
of winter grazing varied considerably more). These areas were not selected randomly
and therefore cannot substitute for the many more areas never visited. Indeed, they most
likely represent better-than-average grassland conditions, and I chose to investigate
them specifically because they were known to be important areas for wildlife. More
importantly, at only one site did my colleagues or I obtain standardized, quantitative
measures of range condition (and even at that site, we did not sample from random-
ized plots); hence to some extent I run the risk, just as most Chinese surveys have,
of inadvertently mixing subjective (and possibly biased) observations with objective
ones. Readers are thus strongly cautioned to view these comparisons as approximate
and subject to observer bias. That said, the patterns that emerge from this comparison
appear robust to me, and also seem generally consistent with my brief observations of
rangeland condition elsewhere, as well as the published literature.
Baizha Forest
At elevations below about 4,300 meters, where pastoralists spent most of their time, vegeta-
tion consisted of forests interspersed with grass and shrublands.
North-facing slopes had
a spruce overstory (mostly
Picea likiangensis
), and a shrub layer of
Sibiraea angustata
,
S. laevigata
, and willows
(
Salix
spp.), as well as a variety of graminoids. South-facing
slopes had an overstory of short (10 to 20 meters high) juniper
(
Sabina tibetica
)
at eleva-
tions 3,900-4,500 m, and open grassy slopes above.
Pastoralists in 1988-90 were a “production team”
(xiao shengchandui)
of Kham-
speaking Tibetans who were affiliated with a village and a few outlying encampments
all connected by a religious bond to the Gar Monastery (of the Kargyupa sect).
58
Nine
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