Jintongshan Nature Reserve

Jintongshan Nature Reserve

Jintongshan Nature Reserve is a national-level nature reserve.

Located within Chengbu Miao Autonomous County in Hunan, the Hunan Jintongshan Nature Reserve lies at the junction of the Yuechengling and Xuefeng mountain ranges, on the northern edge of the Nanling Mountains. Its geographical coordinates are between 110°5′18″ to 110°33′36″ east longitude and 26°06′03″ to 26°20′06″ north latitude. The reserve is divided into two sections: the first section is Jintongshan, whose southern part connects to Nanshan Pasture and whose northern part neighbors the Liangjiang Canyon National Forest Park in Chengbu, Hunan. The main peak of Jintongshan has an elevation of 1,784.1 meters. The second section is the Mingzhulao Mountain area, which borders Ziyuan County in Guangxi to the east and touches Xinning County in Hunan to the northeast. Its highest peak, Erbaoding, stands at 2,018 meters. The straight-line distance between the two sections is about 19 km. The total land area is 18,466 hectares, including 10,491 hectares of state-owned forest and 7,975 hectares of collectively owned forest. Most of the core zone and buffer zone of the reserve consists of state-owned forest. The area preserves large expanses of natural secondary forests, including 6,025 hectares of evergreen broad-leaved forest, and 5,800 hectares of either deciduous broad-leaved forest or mixed evergreen-deciduous broad-leaved forest.

Current surveys of the Hunan Jintongshan Nature Reserve have recorded 2,277 species of vascular plants, belonging to 220 families and 878 genera. This includes 23 species of gymnosperms (from 8 families and 15 genera), 1,799 species of angiosperms (from 177 families and 745 genera), and 455 species of ferns (from 45 families and 118 genera), making it one of the regions with the highest plant diversity in Hunan. The forest also contains valuable flora such as Coptis chinensis (goldthread), Panax japonicus (Japanese ginseng), and Gastrodia elata (tianma or heavenly bamboo), all of which are relatively abundant in this area. The abundance of macrofungi on the forest floor is also an important indicator of forest health; two surveys conducted in 2009 identified 158 species of macrofungi, distributed across 35 families and 65 genera, including 2 species new to China and 18 species new to Hunan Province.

The Hunan Jintongshan Nature Reserve is rich in rare plant species, with 23 types under national key protection—4 of which are Class I protected and 19 Class II protected—as well as 39 species of orchids. Among the nationally protected plants, the reserve is particularly notable for wild populations of Abies ziyuanensis (resource fir), Taxus wallichiana var. mairei (southern yew), Bretschneidera sinensis (paulownia tree), Pinus kwangtungensis (Guangdong five-needle pine), Phoebe bournei (Phoebe bournei), Cephalotaxus oliveri (cutleaf plum yew), Semiliquidambar cathayensis (semi-winged sweet gum), Coptis chinensis (goldthread), Gastrodia elata (tianma), and Tetracentron sinense (water poplar).

The extensive natural secondary forests provide an excellent habitat for wildlife. The Jintongshan Nature Reserve boasts a rich diversity of wild animals, with a high proportion of rare and endangered species. Current surveys have identified 278 species of vertebrates, falling into 92 families and 192 genera. These include 28 species of fish (from 12 families and 26 genera), 28 species of amphibians (from 8 families and 15 genera), 46 species of reptiles (from 9 families and 33 genera), 142 species of birds (from 44 families and 91 genera), and 34 species of mammals (from 19 families and 27 genera).

The Hunan Jintongshan Nature Reserve lies along the bird migration route from South Asia to Australia. Historically, at locations such as the ridges along the 36th Ferry River within the reserve, there was a famous local Miao “bird-hunting hollow,” especially active from early September to October. On cloudy evenings, particularly when drizzling, villagers would climb to the ridge, light bonfires, and scare southbound migratory birds into flying toward the flames—then they would strike them with bamboo branches, resulting in an astonishing number of bird casualties. This traditional and harmful practice has now been effectively halted. Moreover, due to the reserve’s preservation of large areas of mid-elevation broad-leaved forests, the red-billed leiothrix, known as Hunan’s provincial bird, is widely distributed here with a large population and visible breeding individuals, forming a dense center for the species. As a result, the Hunan Jintongshan Nature Reserve serves as both a crucial migratory corridor for South Asia–Australia birds and an important breeding ground for the red-billed leiothrix, making it a veritable “paradise for birds.” It holds significant importance in the distribution and evolutionary history of Southeast Asian avifauna.