Wild Fruit Forest

Wild Fruit Forest

The Wild Fruit Forest is a national AA-level tourist attraction.

Wild Fruit Forest

The common characteristics of wild fruit forests in Xinjiang are: they require a mild, moist climate that is relatively shade-tolerant, featuring traits of oceanic deciduous broadleaf tree species. Most of the tree species are remnants of Tertiary broadleaf forests, primarily distributed in the Ili River Valley and the Tacheng Basin. The climatic conditions of these areas perfectly meet the habitat requirements mentioned above: surrounded by high mountains on the east, west, and north, which block the intrusion of cold air from the north and dry, hot air from the south. The opening to the west allows in moist westerly winds, bringing an annual precipitation of 400–600 mm; elevations mostly range from 1,100 to 1,600 meters, placing the area within the mountain inversion layer in winter, thus avoiding severe frost damage. Taking Xinyuan (928 m) as an example, the January average temperature is -8.1°C, with an extreme minimum temperature of -25°C. The low mountain zones where the wild fruit forests are located generally have higher winter temperatures than Xinyuan. The wild fruit forests are mostly found on the northern slopes of low mountains and in shaded broad valleys. Although the area from Huocheng to Yining lies on southern slopes, the forests are concentrated on the northern slopes of tributary valleys, with few pure forests forming on southern slopes.