Huaibei Zhonghu National Wetland Park

Huaibei Zhonghu National Wetland Park

Huaibei Zhonghu National Wetland Park is a national-level wetland park.

Zhonghu Wetland Park is located in Huaibei City, a national garden city with a history of over 4,000 years of urban development. Situated in the central-southern part of the city, it borders Longdaihe River to the east, connects to Nanhu Scenic Area via Tuohu Road to the south, extends to Longshan Road/Changshan Road to the west, and faces Donghu Scenic Area across Renmin Road to the north. Covering a total area of 860 hectares, it is managed and developed by a specialized agency.

To further advance the development of Zhonghu Wetland Park, Huaibei adheres to the principle of combining conservation with development and utilization. It has established the concept of prioritizing ecology and wetlands, and is constructing the park according to national-level wetland park standards, aiming to build a top-tier national wetland park. The province’s Forestry Department and the Provincial Forestry Planning and Survey Design Institute have been invited to provide guidance on the planning and formulation of Zhonghu Wetland Park. The planned construction period for Zhonghu Wetland Park is 10 years, with an investment of 150 million yuan earmarked for ecological projects and infrastructure development.

Investigation and Evaluation

From August 7 to 8, 2010, the Anhui Provincial Forestry Department organized an expert argumentation meeting in Huaibei City for the proposed Anhui Huaibei Zhonghu National Wetland Park master plan. Experts attending the meeting came from institutions such as the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Anhui Normal University, and Anhui University. Responsible officials from the Huaibei Municipal People’s Government, as well as relevant departments including the Xiangshan District Government, Municipal Agriculture Commission, Urban Construction Commission, Finance Bureau, Forestry Bureau, Land and Resources Bureau, Water Resources Bureau, Environmental Protection Bureau, Planning Bureau, and Tourism Bureau, also participated. The expert panel conducted an on-site inspection of the proposed wetland park’s resource conditions and construction potential, carefully reviewed the content of the “Anhui Huaibei Zhonghu National Wetland Park Master Plan,” and listened to presentations from the Huaibei Municipal People’s Government and the planning firm regarding the basic situation of the wetland park and the main contents of the plan. The experts unanimously agreed that the proposed Zhonghu Wetland Park is located in the central-southern part of Xiangshan District, Huaibei City, covering a total area of 860 hectares. It is an artificial subsidence lake formed by the rise of groundwater in mined-out areas due to coal mining, along with the accumulation of rainfall and surface water runoff. The subsidence lake has a short formation history, a flat lakebed, relatively enclosed water bodies, and significant spatial dynamics. Its formation and evolution are distinctly different from natural lakes in our province, such as river trace depression-type, tectonic-type, and lagoon-type lakes, making it extremely typical and unique in China.