Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, formerly known as Black Mountains National Park, covers an area of 1,730 square kilometers (670 square miles) in central Bhutan. It protects a large part of the Black Mountains, which is a section of the Himalayan Range System.
The park is mostly located in the Trongsa District and includes parts of the Sarpang, Tsirang, Wangdue Phodrang, and Zhemgang Districts.
To the east of the park is the Mangde Chhu river, and to the west, it reaches the Sankosh River−Punatsangchu basin. The park is next to Royal Manas National Park on its southeast side.
Major highways that run east-west and north-south in Bhutan pass along the park’s border, from north to southeast. The park is also connected to other national parks in northern, eastern, central, and southern Bhutan through biological corridors. Habitats of the Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests ecoregion are protected within the park.
Geography
Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park is the most central of Bhutan’s national parks. It covers an area of 1,730 square kilometers and connects Royal Manas National Park in the south to temperate and alpine vegetation in the north. The park is mainly located in five districts: Tsirang, Sarpang, Wangdue, Zhemgang, and Trongsa.
This park is the best example of mid-Himalayan ecosystems in the Eastern Himalaya. It includes many different habitats, from subtropical forests at lower elevations to alpine meadows at higher elevations. It is the only park in Bhutan that contains an ancient Chir pine forest (Pinus roxburghii). The park is also important for many migratory bird species because of its wide range of altitudes, vegetation types, and central location in the country. It includes habitats such as permanent ice on Durshingla Peak (Black Mountain), alpine lakes and pastures, conifer and broad-leaved forests, and temperate and subtropical forests. The park protects the largest and most biodiverse temperate forest area in the Himalayas.
The high mountains in the park’s central region are a key source of water for streams and rivers that flow into the Mangde Chhu River to the west. The Nika Cchu River joins the Mangde Chhu from the north.
Administration
The park's main office is located in Tshangkha, near the national highway in Trongsa District.
The park is divided into four administrative sections, called Park Ranges. Each section has its own office, as shown in map 2.
In addition to the four Park Ranges, the park also has two administrative sections called Deputy Ranges. These are subdistricts: the Chendebji Deputy Range, which is located within the Langthel Park Range, and the Athang Deputy Range, which is located within the Taksha Park Range.
Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park has 38 staff members. These include 34 technical workers and 4 non-technical workers. The staff are located in different parts of the park, working at the Park Headquarters or one of the six Park Range or Deputy Range offices.
The mission of the park is to "Protect and manage the park's natural biodiversity while respecting people's values and goals." The following goals support this mission:
- Protect and maintain ecosystems and plant and animal communities so that natural processes continue with little human interference.
- Protect cultural, historical, and religious sites.
- Help local people use natural resources in ways that last and improve their lives.
The park focuses on research, wildlife management, education, sustainable living, and improving social welfare. It supports local people in joining community-based ecotourism projects, which help improve their lives and protect the environment.
Since 1995, the park has provided forestry services to local residents and managed natural resources through hard work. It has also helped communities with programs that combine conservation and development, such as creating the Nabji-Korphu Community-based Ecotourism, the Adha-Rukha Community Trail, and providing CGI Sheets to people in need.
For conservation, the park has conducted surveys, such as checking the health of biological corridors that connect other protected areas, studying biodiversity, tracking tigers to understand predator-prey relationships, and patrolling to stop poaching. These efforts help protect wildlife habitats.
Functional Sections
The Park has four sections located in the head office and the park range offices.
This section manages and helps organize all research activities within the national park.
This section is the main part of the park. It works to protect the plants and animals in the park. It also keeps records about how park residents use natural resources. This section gives permits for cutting trees and handles problems related to animals in the park.
This section is responsible for activities that affect people's lives and the economy within the park. It also connects conservation efforts with development projects in the national park.
This section manages activities related to tree planting, private forests, and forests owned by local communities in the national park.
Natural history
The park’s north-central area has very rough and uneven land, with hills and mountains reaching nearly 5,000 meters (16,000 feet) high. The southern parts of the park are less steep and rough.
Geologically, the mountains are not very old and have steep sides. They are mostly made of rocks called Pre-Cambrian and early Paleozoic quartzite and gneiss, with some areas having sedimentary rocks like limestone, dolomite, sandstone, and shales. The soil is mostly clay loam, which allows water to pass through easily and holds moisture well.
The eastern edge of the park, from Trongsa to Tingtibi, is marked by the Mangde Chhu River. The Punatsangchu River touches the mid-western part of the park near Taksha. The Nika Chhu River flows through the Chendebji Valley in the northern part of the park and joins the Mangdechu River. Many small streams and rivers begin in the snow-covered alpine lakes of the Black Mountain area. Melting snow and rain during the monsoon season add water to these streams. These small rivers flow down steep slopes, often as waterfalls, and join larger rivers in the valleys. The rainy and dry seasons cause big changes in river flow, with large amounts of water and sediment during the monsoon and less water during the dry, winter months.
Local people use the rivers for daily needs and farming, which means they take water from the rivers.
Several large hydropower plants are being built along the Punatsangchu, Mangdechu, and Nika Chhu Rivers, which are near the park’s borders.
The park’s wide range of elevations and mountainous land create different climates, from warm and wet in the south to cold and temperate in the high northern areas. The southwest monsoon from June to September brings most of the yearly rain. High mountains block some rain, causing differences in rainfall in certain areas.
The park has large areas of natural habitats that are not disturbed by humans. It is located in the center of one of Asia’s largest and most diverse protected area complexes, along with Manas Tiger Reserve, Royal Manas National Park, Jigme Dorji National Park, and Wangchuck Centennial National Park. These areas have very different but connected habitats that change with elevation, from low tropical regions to high alpine areas.
The park includes parts of six different ecoregions:
– Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests
– Himalayan subtropical pine forests (mainly Pinus roxburghii, or Chir pines)
– Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests
– Warm broadleaf forests
– Cool temperate broadleaf forests
– Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests
– Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows
The park’s wide elevation range, complex terrain, and six ecoregions create a rich variety of plant and animal life. Native plants and animals include several rare and endangered species listed in Bhutan’s Forest and Nature Conservation Act and the IUCN Red List.
Bhutan’s Constitution requires the country to keep at least 60% of its land covered in forests forever and to remain carbon neutral and a net carbon sink.
The park has many mammals, including species from the Palearctic and Indo-Malayan regions. Surveys from 2001 to 2015 found 39 confirmed mammal species, including tigers, leopards, gaur, and golden langurs.
Different forest types support various mammals:
– Sub-tropical broadleaf forests: Tigers, clouded leopards, leopards, gaur, muntjacs, sambar, golden langurs, and black giant squirrels.
– Chir pine forests: Muntjacs, sambar, serows, wild boar, gorals, leopards, golden cats, dholes, yellow-throated martens, and black panthers.
– Warm broadleaf forests: Barking deer, sambar, gaur, wild boar, and golden langurs.
– Cool broadleaf forests: Bengal tigers, Himalayan black bears, and yellow-throated martens.
– Mixed conifer forests: Bengal tigers.
– Blue pine forests: Yellow-throated martens.
– Fir forests: Red pandas, musk deer, and Himalayan serows (a main prey for tigers).
– Juniper forests: Transitional areas between forests and alpine meadows.
– Alpine meadows and scrub: Tibetan wolves.
The park has recorded 270 bird species, including eight globally threatened birds listed in Bhutan’s Forest and Nature Conservation Act. The Phobjikha Valley, near the park, is an important winter home for black-necked cranes. The park also supports critically endangered white-bellied herons and is a habitat for rufous-necked hornbills, great hornbills, and wood snipes. Most birds in the park are altitudinal migrants that travel through the area seasonally.
The park has 42 species of herpetofauna (snakes, lizards, frogs, and turtles):
– Snakes: 24 species
– Lizards: 8 species
– Frogs: 9 species
– Turtles: 1 species
A recent survey found 359 butterfly species in the park and its surrounding areas.
Human communities
The park is home to many different communities, including some of the earliest settlers in the country. These include the Oleps in Rukha village in Athang Gewog, the Monpa people in Jangbi, Wangling, and Phrumzur villages in Langthil Gewog, and the Reti community in Jigmechhoeling Gewog, all located in Sarpang Dzongkhag. More than 5,000 people live in the different areas of the park.
The villages of Korphu, Nabji, and Nimshong in Korphu Gewog have the most households. In contrast, villages in Athang Gewog are smaller and more spread out. Overall, Korphu, Trong, and Tangsibji Gewogs have fewer villages, but those villages are larger in size. Langthel and Athang Gewogs have many villages that are scattered across the area. People in these villages rely on natural resources in the national park for their daily lives.
The main ways people earn a living in the park are through farming and raising livestock. Some families also make money by collecting non-wood forest products. In addition, some households work for wages, especially in areas near towns or infrastructure projects. These jobs are more common in villages close to these locations. Casual labor is most common in Langthel, Korphu, and Athang Gewogs, while trade-based income is highest in Trong Gewog.
Livestock rearing
Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park covers more than 10 Gewogs across five Dzongkhags. People in these 10 Gewogs make their living through farming, raising cattle, and gathering forest resources like timber, firewood, and other forest items. The park is also used as pastureland for over six months each year by many migratory cattle and yak herders.
In the park, winter grazing areas are located in tropical and sub-tropical regions. These areas are too hot for people to live in during the summer, and the forests and meadows are filled with many types of weeds. Rivers in these areas become too large to cross during the summer, making movement between valleys difficult. These regions are best for grazing in winter when rivers are shallow and the weather is milder.
Migratory cattle herders from Chumey in Bumthang travel to these low-altitude pastures when the cold alpine and temperate regions become too harsh for their livestock. Many herders from Bumthang own multiple tsamdrogs at different altitudes and vegetation zones. They move their cattle between these areas seasonally based on experience. Cattle are carefully rotated among winter tsamdrogs to ensure they last through the winter while reducing pressure on the land.
Summer grazing areas are in temperate and alpine regions, where cattle move when tropical and sub-tropical areas become too hot and humid. However, the park has fewer summer grazing areas available.
In the Black Mountain regions, yaks from the Phobjikha Valley graze in alpine meadows during summer. These yaks move to lower-altitude areas of the Phobjikha Valley in winter, when Black Mountain is covered in snow.
Six yak herders from the Phobjikha Valley migrate to pastures in Black Mountain each year. Each herder owns about 56 yaks, and more than 300 yaks will likely graze in the limited pastures over five months, from May to September.
When cattle move to summer grazing areas in temperate and sub-alpine regions, yaks travel to higher altitudes in alpine areas. When cattle move to winter grazing areas in sub-tropical and tropical regions, yaks move to lower altitudes during winter.
Ecotourism
This is a 6-day journey through remote villages in Central Bhutan. The Nabji-Korphu Community-Based Nature Tourism program is unique because it is run directly by local communities, not by travel agencies. The trail passes through six villages where visitors can learn about daily life, farming, and ways to protect the environment and cultural traditions. The trek lasts 6 days and 5 nights at low altitudes, between 1,000 and 1,700 meters above sea level. It helps provide extra income to families who rely on farming for their livelihoods.
The Nabji-Korphu trail is located in the Lower Trongsa District of Central Bhutan, within Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park. It is a 6-day/5-night winter trek that includes visits to villages and natural areas with many rare animals and plants, such as golden langurs, rufous-necked hornbills, wild orchids, and flowering plants. The trail is also historically important because it follows a path believed to have been used by Guru Rinpoche during his visit to Bhutan in the 8th century.
Each village along the trail has a group of 4 to 5 elected community members who manage the tourism program. The trek is open from mid-October to the end of March.
A new 6-day/5-night program is being started in the western part of Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, near the villages of Adha and Rukha in Wangdue District. Highlights include visits to the Oleps community, where people speak a rare language, the habitat of the critically endangered white-bellied heron, and homes in rural villages. Visitors can also fish in Rukha’s Hara-chhu River, which is managed by the first community-led fishing group in Bhutan, and learn to prepare stone-dried fish.