Jigme Dorji National Park
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Sign Board
Jigme Dorji National Park with an area of 4329 sq km is the largest protected area system in Bhutan. Jigme Dorji National Park was initially notified as Wildlife Sanctuary in 1974 and upgraded to a national park in 1993 and formally established with the appointment of a park manager in 1995. It is located in the northwestern part of Bhutan. The park borders with Tibetan China in the north and is home to some 6500 layaps,Lunaps, Goens and Gasaps. These people are mostly local tribes and have been living in the park prior to its establishment. and ranges from sub-tropical forest at an elevation of 1400m to alpine glaciers at about 7000m. The park is a vital watershed covering almost half of northern Bhutan, and is an important natural conservatory of glaciers, alpine meadows and scrublands, sub-alpine and temperate conifer forests, warm and cool temperate broadleaf forests, major rivers and streams, and the flora and fauna that inhabit these ecosystems.
Cordyceps
Jigme Dorji harbors numerous charismatic species of wildlife, many of which are
endangered or extinct elsewhere in the world. These include the tiger (Panthera
tigris), snow leopard (Uncia uncia), takin (Budorcas
taxicolor), blue sheep (Pseudouis nayaur), musk deer (Moshcus chrysogaster),
Himalayan black bear (Selenarctos thibetanus), marmot (Marmota himalayana), red
panda (Ailurus fulgens),Bengal tigers, yak , raven, fox,
wildboar, sambar, musk deer, wild dog, pika, clouded leopard and several
species of pheasant.
The park also is famous for its flora, and more than 300 species of plants found here are used in indigenous medicine. The park also has equally rich floral species consisting of a unique caterpillar fungus Cordyceps sinensis, rhododendrons, chirpines, cypress and hundreds of alpine medicinal and aromatic plants. Jigme Dorji National Parkis also the only park in Bhutan where national animal takin,National flower blue poppy, National bird raven and National tree cypress exist together. Jigme Dorji has a resident human population of more than 1,000 households. The integrated management of the park, initially supported by the trust fund, is now financed by the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Development Program. The conservation strategy adopted here is to support the park management to address the main threats to the park's biodiversity and remove the causes of these threats by implementing various activities, including recruitment and training staff, infrastructure development, enforcement of legal systems to mitigate poaching, and implementation of community resources management plans to promote sustainable livelihoods and alternative approaches to help conserve and sustainably utilise the park's resources.
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