Dafeng elk National Nature Reserve

China elk park is the first and largest wild elk Park in the world. It integrates scientific research and protection, popular science education, eco-tourism and leisure. It is the only national 5A tourist attraction with the theme of elk culture in China and the only one in the world. There are nearly 2000 species of wild animals and plants living in this vast pure land. The blue sky is blue, the air is fresh, the rare birds are rare, and the exotic animals are surging. All of these constitute a primitive, simple and colorful natural landscape. China elk Park, which is listed as an important international wetland, attracts friends from all over the world with its worldwide, unique and mysterious tourism resources.

Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve, Jiangsu Province

synonym

Dafeng elk National Nature Reserve generally refers to Jiangsu Dafeng elk National Nature Reserve

Jiangsu Dafeng elk National Nature Reserve is located on the coast of the Yellow Sea. The total area of the reserve is 78000 hectares, including 2668 hectares of core area, 2220 hectares of buffer area and 73112 hectares of experimental area.

Dafeng elk National Nature Reserve in Jiangsu Province is the largest elk Nature Reserve in the world. It has the largest wild elk population in the world and has established the largest elk gene bank in the world.

The nature reserve has received nearly 1 million tourists from more than 40 countries, including 380000 young people at home and abroad, accounting for 40% of the total number of tourists. It has played a great role in promoting science popularization and education of wildlife protection and improving public environmental awareness.

In July 2019, it was listed in the world natural heritage list of China Yellow Sea (Bohai Sea) migratory bird habitat (phase I).

geographical environment

geographical position

Dafeng elk nature reserve, named ya'erdang, is located in the southeast corner of Dafeng forest farm, covering an area of 15000 mu. There are woodland, grassland, swamp and natural water in the area. Located in the southeast of Dafeng District, Jiangsu Province, the geographical coordinates are between 32 ° 56 ′ - 33 ° 36 ′ N and 120 ° 42 ′ - 120 ° 51 ′ E.

Geology and geomorphology

It is a typical coastal wetland. The main wetland types include tidal flat, seasonal river and part of constructed wetland. There are a lot of woodland, reed, swamp, salt bare land and forest grass beach.

Climatic characteristics

Dafeng district belongs to the transition zone between subtropical zone and warm temperate zone, which is suitable for the growth of thermophilic crops. The marine climate is characterized by slow temperature rise in spring, stable and slow temperature fall in autumn, late first frost and long frost free period. The monsoon climate shows that in winter, it is affected by the cold air of the continental monsoon, with more northwest wind and less rain, with low temperature and frost; in summer, it is affected by the marine monsoon, with more southeast wind, abundant precipitation and the same period of rain and heat; in spring and autumn, it is in an alternating period, forming a dry, wet, warm and cold climate. The boundary between spring, summer, autumn and winter is not obvious. In winter, the temperature is warmer, and it is rare to freeze the river with heavy snow. The annual average temperature is 14.5 ℃, the frost free period is 299 days, the annual precipitation is 751.0 mm, and the sunshine is 2325.4 hours.

natural resources

Animal resources

There are 14 species of mammals, 182 species of birds, 27 species of reptiles and more than 299 species of insects in the reserve.

There are 23 species of national protected animals, including elk, white stork, white tailed sea eagle, Red Crowned Crane, and muntjac. There are more than one thousand elk reintroduced from England in the reserve, which are rich in species and have significant ecological, social and economic values.

plant resources

There are more than 240 kinds of higher plants in the reserve, mainly including Gramineae, Compositae, Cyperaceae, Leguminosae and Chenopodiaceae. The vegetation is saline meadow, saline swamp and aquatic vegetation. There are also artificial forests, artificial pasture and semi mature soil abandoned land.

The floristic composition is complex, but the community development is relatively young. Vegetation succession is rapid and habitat stability is poor. There are Phragmites australis, Carex, Suaeda salsa, Salicornia, etc. distributed in the world; Carex, iris, Apocynum, etc. distributed in the north temperate zone; bermudagrass distributed in the pan tropical zone; Zoysia japonica distributed in tropical Asia and tropical Oceania, Swertia mussotii distributed in the Mediterranean and Central Asia, and Bromus distributed intermittently in the south temperate zone and north temperate zone. There are no national protected plants.

Historical evolution

In the 1960s, elk antlers and elk bones (sub fossils) were unearthed in xintuan, Dalong, Sanwei and Liuzhuang of Dafeng district. Historical documents and unearthed cultural relics fully prove that Dafeng was the hometown of elk. In the spring of 1984, the International Wildlife Fund and the Ministry of forestry of China organized experts, scholars and technical personnel to investigate here and confirmed that it was suitable for elk life,

With the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of forestry and Jiangsu Province jointly set up a milu deer nature reserve here. The Ministry of forestry invested 1.2 million yuan to start the construction in 1985. The protection area is divided into three breeding circles, the core circle covers an area of 45 mu, the middle circle covers an area of 1815 mu, and the outer circle covers an area of 131.4 million mu, all of which are surrounded by iron fences to gradually expand the activity circle of elk group. In the reserve, gravel roads are paved, management studios and living rooms are built, and high-voltage power supply is connected for lighting and development in the reserve.

Dafeng elk Nature Reserve was founded in 1986, which was a part of Dafeng forest farm.

On the morning of August 13, 1986, 42 milu deer (13 males and 29 females) were transported by air from London, England to Guangzhou, Shanghai, and then transported to Dafeng nature reserve for stocking.

In 1995, Dafeng elk Nature Reserve was listed in the "man and biosphere nature reserve protection network".

By the end of 1996, the area of the nature reserve was expanded to 2666 hectares, adding the third core area.

In 1997, Dafeng Milu Nature Reserve was promoted to National Nature Reserve.

In 2002, Dafeng Milu Nature Reserve was listed in the list of international important wetlands.

Dafeng elk Nature Reserve was listed as a member of East Asia Australia bird protection network by wetland international in 2003.

In 2006, Dafeng Milu Nature Reserve was designated as "national demonstration nature reserve" by the State Forestry Administration. Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve in Jiangsu Province is located in the coastal siltation zone, and the coastline of the Yellow Sea extends to the sea.

Value significance

In 1986, relying on 39 elk introduced from England, they were in Dafeng elk nature reserve on the Yellow Sea beach. After two years of "Introduction and population expansion" and ten years of "behavior reshaping", the third stage of the rescue project: "wild release" has been implemented since 1998. Fifty three milu deer were released four times in ten years. After ten years of hard exploration, the number of wild milu deer increased by 13.2% every year. 118 wild populations have been formed. As of September 2013, the total number of Dafeng elk has reached 2027.

After years of follow-up observation and monitoring, the wild behavior of elk has been continuously restored. They have strong recognition ability and awareness of nature protection in the wild. They successfully gave birth in complete nature for three consecutive years, and all survived. The successful return of elk to nature has basically achieved the construction goal of harmony between human and nature and the balance between social environment and ecological environment, which has become a milestone in the process of elk protection in the world.

Save the elk

Over the past 20 years, the number of elk in other countries has not changed significantly, while the population of Dafeng elk has increased by 25 times, becoming the pioneer in the expansion of elk population in the world. Therefore, the elk withdrew from the "red book" and was listed as a rare species. This is another milestone in the protection of elk. The second reproduction cycle of wild elk has been successfully completed in the wetland of South Yellow Sea, and the great grandchildren have appeared in the population of wild elk. After 10 years of exploration and research, the number of wild elk population in nature is more than 100, basically out of the "dangerous period" of population development.

From 2006 to 2008, the elk reserve conducted in-depth observation in the relatively concentrated and scattered areas of elk distribution in China, and found that the elk inhabited in the forest on the mountain, a female elk lactated three young elk at the same time, and the elk ate a lot of rice grass. These three major discoveries are new breakthroughs in the study of elk in China, and have important practical significance in promoting the development of China's wildlife protection and promoting the research of related disciplines.

secondary effect

Dafeng Nature Reserve has formed a symbiotic ecological model of forest, grass, water, deer and bird and a complete elk ecosystem. Spartina alterniflora, once considered as a harmful alien species, has become a favorite food of elk and has been included in the biological cycle chain of the nature reserve.

The biodiversity in the reserve is very rich. There are 12 kinds of mammals, 27 kinds of amphibians and reptiles, 315 kinds of birds, 599 kinds of insects and 499 kinds of plants. Among them, Red Crowned Crane, black Headed Gull, swan, white tailed sea eagle and Swertia are more than 30 national first and second level protected animals, and the number is also increasing year by year. The growth of bird species and number is particularly prominent, the natural ecological environment of the reserve has been continuously improved, and the efficiency of the Yellow Sea wetland is fully demonstrated.

Derivative economy

In terms of economy, the reserve has become an important scenic spot for beach tourism, with 30 tourists a year

Chinese PinYin : Da Feng Mi Lu Guo Jia Ji Zi Ran Bao Hu Qu