Introduction

This plan was prepared following a visit I made to Beidaihe in May 2005, at the request of Mr Cao Ziyu, Director of the People’s Government of Beidaihe. Here, “Beidaihe” covers the coastal area south from the Sandflats (Henghe) to the vicinity of the Yanghe – ie including Beidaihe Haibin (Beidaihe-by-the-Sea) and Nandaihe.

Though the emphasis here is on birds, conservation measures could achieve several positive outcomes, including:

• Direct conservation, especially of migratory birds including globally endangered species;

• Indirect conservation, such as through monitoring populations and population changes, and through conservation education;

• Enhancement of Beidaihe, by protecting and improving green spaces and so helping to keep Beidaihe a fine place to live in and visit;

• Boost to local tourism, partly through continuing birdwatching tourism, but mainly by creating additional attractions for people visiting Beidaihe chiefly for seaside holidays.

A Conservation Plan for Beidaihe, Hebei Province, China

The recommendations given here are aimed partly at ensuring Beidaihe still has a good diversity of habitats, so continuing to attract a remarkably wide diversity of migrant birds. Habitat improvements could also increase Beidaihe’s relatively low diversity of breeding birds. [Note: unless otherwise stated, all photos were taken from 11-15 May 2005.]

There is an emphasis on wetland conservation. This is because wetlands are among the habitats most affected by China’s development, resulting in populations of several species falling in recent years, with some species now facing extinction. At Beidaihe, too, wetlands are shrinking; the proposals here could help slightly expand and improve wetlands at the town.

Woodland is also an important habitat; at Beidaihe, this is especially true in some coastal areas, such as along the south and east coast, and just south of the Yanghe – where woods afford cover for tired songbirds arriving from over the sea. Also, at the Lotus Hills, there is potential for nurturing relatively natural woods, with rich plant species diversity and greatly increased numbers and variety of breeding birds.

Perhaps the key recommendation is for a wetland reserve and visitor centre just south of the Henghe [Xinhe] reservoir. This could be based on a proposal by Ounsted (unpubl.). If successful, this could be a model for further such reserves coupled with visitor centres in the area – and, indeed, in other parts of China.