Wuyunjie

Wuyunjie

Wuyunjie is a national nature reserve.

Wuyunjie National Nature Reserve is located in the southern part of Taoyuan County in the northwest of Hunan Province, at the eastern foothills of the Xuefeng Mountain Range and on the southern bank of the Yuan River, which flows out of Dongting Lake. Its geographical coordinates are between 111°07′20″ to 111°29′20″ east longitude and 28°30′40″ to 28°39′47″ north latitude. The reserve spans 36.0 km from east to west and 16.5 km from north to south. It borders Dingcheng District of Changde City to the east, Anhua County of Yiyang City to the south, Taipingpu Township of Taoyuan County to the west, and faces the Taohuayuan Scenic Area of Taoyuan County to the north.

In 1998, the Taoyuan County Environmental Protection Bureau established the Heishan Nature Reserve Leading Group through Document No. 3 [1998] of Taoyuan Environmental Protection, and set up a corresponding office. Later that same year, the Heishan County-level Nature Reserve (including the Guniushan State-owned Forest Farm) was also established. In October 2000, the People’s Government of Hunan Province officially approved the establishment of the Heishan Provincial Nature Reserve. Given that the large cats the reserve aims to protect are primarily centered around Wuyunjie within the area and radiate outward, in 2003, with approval from the provincial government, it was renamed Wuyunjie Nature Reserve. In February 2006, the State Council officially approved the establishment of the Hunan Wuyunjie National Nature Reserve, covering a total area of 33,818 hectares, including a core zone of 16,385 hectares, a buffer zone of 7,655 hectares, and an experimental zone of 9,778 hectares. In November 2015, the State Council approved adjustments to the scope and functional zones of the Hunan Wuyunjie National Nature Reserve. After the adjustment, the total area of the reserve is 33,339.62 hectares, consisting of a core zone of 16,093.72 hectares, a buffer zone of 6,500.97 hectares, and an experimental zone of 10,744.93 hectares.

The Hunan Wuyunjie National Nature Reserve is a national-level nature reserve of the “forest ecosystem” type under the “natural ecosystem” category. Its primary conservation objectives are: first, to protect the most typical, largest in preserved area, and best-preserved forest ecosystem in China’s mid-subtropical low-altitude regions; and second, to protect large cats and their habitats.

Wuyunjie National Nature Reserve is situated in the middle section of the Xuefeng Mountain Range, at the northeastern edge of the ancient landmass of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, along the lower reaches of the Yuan River. Due to its complex terrain and significant elevation variations, the climate and soil exhibit distinct vertical changes, resulting in a variety of unique micro-ecological environments within the reserve. These provide favorable living conditions for diverse biological species. The reserve hosts the largest and most intact mid-subtropical forest ecosystem in the low-altitude areas of Central China, with a forest coverage rate of 92.5%, making it an important water conservation area in the Yuan River basin. The area contains sub-tropical low-altitude evergreen broad-leaved secondary forests, with 1,860 species of seed plants belonging to 168 families and 768 genera. Among these, there are 29 species of gymnosperms from 7 families and 17 genera, and 1,831 species of angiosperms from 161 families and 751 genera. This includes nationally protected plants such as the ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), Chinese yew (Taxus wallichiana var. chinensis), southern yew (Taxus wallichiana var. mairei), Bretschneidera sinensis, and golden larch (Pseudolarix amabilis) under Class I protection, as well as Class II protected plants such as Cephalotaxus oliveri, Torreya grandis, and Liriodendron chinense. A total of 201 species of wild vertebrates (from 28 orders and 71 families) have been found in the reserve, including Class I protected animals such as the leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa nebulosa), Elliot’s pheasant (Syrmaticus ellioti), and forest musk deer. Class II protected animals include the Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus), tiger frog (Rana tigrina), spengleri’s turtle (Geoemyda spengleri), and black-eared kite (Milvus migrans lineatus).

The Chinese tiger swallowtail butterfly (Luehdorfia chinensis), listed in the 2012 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the China National Forestry Administration’s List of Key Protected Wild Animals, also inhabits the reserve in large numbers. The extent of its habitat and the size of its population are truly rare.

Therefore, the Wuyunjie Nature Reserve is truly a vast natural gene bank in the foothills of the Xuefeng Mountains, possessing extremely high conservation value.