Development History

In 1983, the Baima Snow Mountain Provincial Nature Reserve was founded under the approval of Yunnan Provincial Government; in 1988, Baima Snow Mountain was promoted to a national nature reserve; in 2000, the reserve was expanded under the approval of the State Council; in October, 2003, under the approval of the Prefecture Committee, the Authority directly under the Prefecture Government was set up in Shangri-La, managing administration branches of Deqin and Weixi, as well as six administration bureaus namely Xiaruo, Benzilan, Yeri, Tacheng, Kangpu, and Badi, which implements a vertical management on the staffing of the two branches. In 2017, the reserve changed its name to the Administration and Protection Bureau. The internal settings included four functional divisions (offices) namely the Office, Resource Protection Division, Science Popularization and Education Division, and Foreign Exchange and Cooperation Management Office. These were stationed in the two administration and protection branches of Deqin and Weixi. There were four administration stations under the Deqin Administration and Protection Branch and three administration stations under the Weixi Administration and Protection Branch. Three institutional organizations namely the Institute of Ecology, Ecological Tourism Management Station, and Quzonggong Ecological Positioning and Monitoring Station were also set up.

Over more than 30 years of hard work, they have achieved hard-won performance in aspects such as resource protection and management, community co-management, science popularization and education, scientific research and monitoring, etc., and have also been highly appreciated by superior departments. In 2006, our district was recognized as the first batch of national demonstration nature reserves by the State Forestry Bureau; in 2011, it ranked first in the management performance evaluation on reserves joint organized by seven national ministries or bureaus under the leadership of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and was rated as an "excellent" management unit; in 2013, the reserve was awarded with the honorable title of "National Advanced Collective" by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and other seven ministries and commissions of the Central Committee. From 2014 to 2018, it has been recognized as an "excellent" unit in the comprehensive target supervision and examination of the Prefecture Government in five consecutive years.