Figure 16 BE Lab student Rachel Miller taking notes with Jiuzhaigou
Tibetan elders babysitting and schoolboys doing homework.
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National and international protocols and scientific research are coming to appreciate the interconnectedness of the valley’s cultural and natural heritage, but tourism development treats them quite separately. Conventional definitions of what is “natural”, as well as the rapid increase of visitors, pressures the park to manage natural resources primarily for their scenic value, and to consider local residents’ traditional use of those resources as a human incursion rather than an integral part of the valley’s ecology.
Traditional subsistence activities are now forbidden throughout the park, with the exception of growing small gardens. Instead, villagers participate in the tourist economy. In most material senses, villagers have benefited from this economy, especially those who live closest to the main tourist routes. These residents own motor vehicles, live in new houses (designed according to “contextual” guidelines), and send their children to good schools (though they are often as far away as Chengdu).
To accommodate the large numbers of tourists in the fragile environment [#s?], park authorities ban private vehicles for non-residents, and require tourists to use a system of buses and boardwalks. These systems have reduced most impacts in the most popular areas, but are reaching their limit of capacity. In the near future,
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Study Tour in Sichuan and Yunan
