Forests in Deep Valleys

Sunlight shines on the barks of birch trees

Progress along the tree roots

　　There are different natural zones in the Great Canyon region. Beside the snowy desert, the grassland and bushes above the snow line of el. 4200 meters, and all the places of the Great Canyon are covered with forests. Natural forests are widely distributed and the forest resources are extremely abundant in this region. Its forest resource reserve is only less than Northeast and Southwest of China and it ranks number 3 in China. 

　

A big harvest - an autumn scene in the Great Canyon

　　Among the high mountain needle-leaved forests, helmlocks and spruce have widespread distributions. Fur trees are the major timber trees. Among the broad-leaved evergreen forests in-between el. 1100 and 2400 in Medog on the southern slope, there are large amount of timber trees of the sub-tropical zone; such as Fagaceae plants: Cyclobolanopsis xizangensis, Quercus lodicosa, Quercus tungmaiensis; Lauraceae plantes; Phoebe motuonan, Phoebe nanmu, Cinnamomum subavenium, Machilus rufipes. The woods of Fagaceae plants are hard and superb materials for manufacturing furniture, and the woods of Lauraceae plants are famous and precious for their fragrance. There are many kinds of precious tropical timber trees in the valley below 1100m, such as Terminalia myriocarpa, Altingia excelsa, Lagerstroemia minuticarpa, Toona ciliata, Homalium zeylanicum, Celtis terandra, Celtis cinnamomea etc. The forest stand of lagerstroemia minuticarpa is as much as 800 cubic meters/hectare. The Amentotaxus argotaenia here is an especially rare timber tree in our country. Because the wood is not only easy for processing, it is also quite fine,smooth, everlasting and fragrant, it is liked by local people

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