to - Asian Highlands

Introduction to Mujiaqiao watershed, Lijiang field trip
1.
Field Program & Location Map
Mujiaqiao watershed is our northwest Yunnan case study site in Lijiang. The
watershed is an upper-stream area of the Yangtze River basin with a size of about
542km2 . The Yanggong River, a tributary of Yangtze, originates on Yulong Snow
Mountain, at 5596 meters, the tallest peak in the area. There are 7 townships in the
watershed: Suhe, Xian, Dayan, Xianghe, Jingshan, Baisha and Huangshan.
We will arrive in Lijiang ancient town (No. 1 on the map) on 18 Mar 2013. We will
visit Yuhu village (No. 2 on the map) the next morning and Lijiang Alpine Botanic
Garden (No. 3 on the map) in the afternoon. On 20 March, we will visit tourist
development locations on Yulong Snow Mountain (No. 4 on the map) before
returning to Kunming.
2.
Brief description of Yuhu village, Lijiang Alpine Botanic Garden and
Yulong Snow Mountain
Yuhu village is located to the south/southeast of Yulong Snow Mountain some 15
kilometers away from downtown Lijiang. In 2011, the village had a population of
1465 people in 383 households. Some 90 percent are of the Naxi minority; the rest are
Han, Bai, Miao, Pumi and Lisu people. The average altitude of Yuhu is 3200 meters.
There are about 3000 ha second-growth forest, 1300 ha of grassland, and 272 ha of
agricultural land in the village. In 2011, net annual village income per capita was
6052 RMB/@1000 USD with tourism as the major income source (the national
average was 6977/@1166 USD).
Lijiang Alpine Botanic Garden (LABG) was established in 2003 as a collaboration
between the Kunming Institute of Botany and Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. It is
the first joint science laboratory between China and Scotland. The major objective is
to protect botanical resources and increase the sustainable management of plants in
this highly diverse area.
LABG is located to the south of Yulong Snow Mountain across an altitude range of
2680- 4300m. With a total area of about 300ha, it is the highest alpine botanic garden
in the world. Yulong reservoir is in the preserve to supply water to Lijiang City. There
are management issues with both its construction and capacity as in-flow to the
reservoir is decreasing. Two photos below illustrate water volumes in the dry and wet
seasons.
Yulong Snow Mountain is the source of the Yanggong River, a tributary of Yangtze.
It is the located in the north of the Mujiaqiao watershed about 25 km away from
Lijiang City. There are 19 glaciers on the mountain with five in the study site. The
glaciers are in active retreat and in time this will threaten water resources throughout
the Lijiang region.
There has been active ecological research in the mountain area since the 1980s and
the evolution of water and land management is well-known. Currently, Lijiang City is
the most popular site for large-scale tourism in Yunnan; over nine million visitors
were recorded in 2012, up from five million in 2009 with no signs of slowing down.
This growth has led to a host of issues- infrastructure development planning,
livelihood transitions and cultural protection, commercialization of the visitor
experience and, important for our focus, water supply and management. The local
government is working to address water management in the context of rapid growth
and reduced supplies. But as we will see, getting water from the mountain and rural
areas to the main growth centers in the valley is a challenging task.