Hi there, I’m Liangheng! Now still self-quarantine in Madison and hopefully my flight on June first would go smoothly, and I just start my summer placement virtually. So, after I go back to China, I need to do the quarantine again in some random Shanghai hotel for two weeks. Then, I would be able to go back to my home and meet with my summer placement supervisor—Biao Yang, the SEE Foundation Deputy Secretary. I began to talked with Biao and Nathan about my placement since mid-March, but settled-down the final deliverables at late May, which because my flights canceled so many times and the quarantine period. Now, this placement seems like could be able to make half virtual and half office based, which is a super delightful news during this long social distancing!
The giant panda habitat restoration project conducted by SEE plans to prioritize the research in giant panda national parks area in Yingjing County, Sichuan. The prominent feature of Yingjing County is the large area of pure bamboo forest, which is an ideal area for the study of the mechanism and model of restoration of pure bamboo forest to giant panda habitat. The SEE needs a set of terminology that describe the definition of habitat, which can give them a clear idea of how to define 8 main concept: habitat, habitat use, habitat selection, habitat preference, habitat availability, habitat quality, unused habitat and key habitat. The literature review that clearly define this concept will help the SEE to develop more targeted formulation of conservation management strategies for the giant panda habitat restoration.
The location of Ya’an Prefecture in Sichuan Province, the Yingjing County is part of the core region of the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries World Natural Heritage site.
In my time with the SEE, I will assist in developing the Giant Panda habitat restoration plan by generating a literature review of the Giant Panda habitat terminology, creating a set of rubric for this project evaluation, while working on ecological restoration program, and assisting with other communication and coordination office work as needed during the office-based working period. Because of the Giant Panda National Park is a new concept, and everyone is trying to figure out to do more conservation and restoration in this area. So, the SEE chengdu office started the research on the restoration mechanism of the giant panda habitat, which could help the managers judge the various possibilities of the restoration of the giant panda habitat in the future, and could also indicate the investment direction and construction content of the habitat protection for the upcoming giant panda national park.
With my supervisor, Biao, I will also use the evaluation knowledge learned from Rob’s course this Spring to help the SEE to generate a set of rubric to evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of their giant panda habitat restoration plan. He mentioned about the community involvement, biodiversity, proposed outcomes, etc. This is a really big evaluation plan that involves a lot of different objectives, so during this short time placement, we will be developing a set of rubric to rating the outcomes and then give them an idea of how to start the evaluation of this restoration project.
I’m so exciting to go back China since we’ve gone through such a long time quarantine, and also I will be able to meet the my supervisor face to face to try to communicate “easier”!!! Good luck and be safe!!!
Cover: photo of Yingjing Daxianglin (cr: Ruirong Mi)
Liangheng
The Nelson Institute: Environmental Professional Programs 2020 Leadership Projects 