Zhalong Nature Reserve ( Chinese: 扎龙 国家级 自然保护区 , Pinyin : Zhālóng guójiā jízìránbǎohùqū ) is a national reserve in northeastern China in the province of Heilongjiang , 26 km southeast of Qiqihar .
The total area of the reserve is 210 thousand hectares, it is mainly focused on the protection of the Japanese (Ussuri) crane and other waterfowl living in wetlands.
The word Zhalong literally means “fight the dragon” ( 扎 and 龍 ).
Geography
The coordinates of the reserve: 46 ° 55' — 47 ° 35 'N and 124 ° 00' — 124 ° 30 'east
The climate is temperate continental, monsoon. The average annual temperature is 3.9 ℃, an average of 402.7 mm of precipitation. The reserve has a flat landscape. The depth of the swamps is up to 0.75 m, the depth of the lakes is up to 5 m. The reed grows 1-3 m high.
About 300 Japanese cranes live in the reserve. The number of white cranes until recently reached 1 thousand, but they moved north to the territory of Russia. The number of wild birds is about 100 thousand.
The reserve also has 46 species of fish, more than 260 species of birds, 21 species of mammals and 468 species of higher plants.
Environmental Issues
In the context of global climate change, the area is increasingly exposed to drought. Decreasing wetland area is becoming a serious problem.
In the 1990s, more than 60 closed water reservoirs were built along the river, which led to a sharp reduction in runoff from wetlands to the nearby river (specify name) from 680 to 40 million m³ per year. At the same time, the reserve staff began the construction of a number of projects, which also led to the destruction of part of the natural wetlands.
In addition, dry grass arsons are common in the area, causing grass fires to go underground. So, in 2001, a grass fire lasted more than 6 months.