Visitor behaviour leads reserve to close mountain area just six days after opening

A national natural reserve in Hebei province was forced to close just six days after it opened part of the mountain to tourist groups after severe degradation of grass areas, thepaper.cn reports.

The managing office of Xiaowutai Mountain announced on Wednesday that some tourists had entered prohibited areas to camp and also collected wild plants, so it was decided to close the whole reserve to all visitors from that day to prevent further damage to the environment.

A previous online post showed many tourists preparing to camp on top of the mountain on Saturday of last week. They cleared the grass in order to set up tents and picked Trollius chinensis, commonly known as the Chinese globe flower, which considered useful in traditional Chinese medicine.

The reserve, about 125km away from Beijing, had been closed to the public since the start of the year but it changed that rule on July 7, announcing it would open an “experimental area” between July 8 and August 15, when the striking yellow flowers blossom.