As one of the country's first pilot national parks, Mount Qilian National Park is set to be established in 2020, according to a draft plan released by the Forestry and Grassland Administration on February 15th.
Mount Qilian locates at the border of Northwest China's Gansu Province and Qinghai Province, which covers a total area of 50,200 square kilometers. About 68.5 percent of the park's area locates in Gansu, while the rest locates in Qinghai.
The national park will be divided into different areas, which include the main headwaters and catchment area in the Qilian Mountains, forests, wetlands and grasslands, and habitats of snow leopards and other endangered species. Besides, areas where the ecosystem is fragile or damaged, and areas left behind by industrial and mining enterprises need to be protected and repaired.
The Qilian Mountains are known as the "Mother Mountains" by the people of Gansu. The mountains are abundant in natural resources and glaciers, which provide precious water to more than 5 million people living in the Hexi Corridor area. According to the Forestry and Grassland Administration last year, a batch of national parks and form a unified management system will be set up by 2020.