In the 1940s, the Chinese government began initial conservation efforts to protect the Giant Pandas. The idea was to set aside safe areas where the animals would be protected in their natural habitat.

During the early 1960s, China's State Council called upon the provinces to set aside land for the protection of China's wildlife. Sichuan province responded quickly with a plan to create reserves to protect Giant Pandas and other animals in the area.

Today there are approximately 40 panda reserves across Southwestern China. Some are Nature Reserves providing safe habitat for wild pandas, like a national park. Other reserves protect the wild pandas while having scientific research centers to study the behavior and for breeding captive pandas.

The reserves are intended to protect the panda's natural habitat. Logging is extremely detrimental to the habitat so in 1998 a logging ban was implemented by the Chinese government to slow the destruction.

Poaching and illegal logging are still problems in some areas. Although pandas were once hunted for their pelts, most pandas that are injured or killed by poachers today are inadvertently harmed when pandas are caught in traps meant for musk deer, takin, and other animals.

Bamboo, the panda's primary food, flowers once every 10 to 100 years depending on the species and then dies off. Historically, when bamboo in one area died off the pandas would move to a new area. The expansion of human populations resulting in roads, towns, power lines and logging for both fire wood and agriculture have made migration difficult for the pandas. In order to reduce this problem, corridors must be built within the reserves to allow the pandas to move freely from one area to another when the bamboo dies off.

Logging is also a problem for the growth of the bamboo, as bamboo grows in the shade of the large fir trees.

Isolation is also a problem in the mating of wild pandas. The same problems preventing pandas from finding new food when the bamboo dies also prevent male and female pandas from finding one another during the mating season. Consequently, building corridors is also extremely important to the matting process.

Logging has also resulted in the reduction of large old growth trees, the favorite spot for mothers with cubs to den or nest after they have a cub. This results in fewer safe dry places for the mother to raise her cub. Scientists are experimenting with building artificial dens to resemble old growth trees.

Purpose of the Panda Reserves

• Protect the forest or habitat of the pandas
• Protect bamboo, the pandas' major food source
• Provide corridors for panda migrations between habitat areas
• Patrol the reserves to prevent poaching and logging
• Patrol the reserves to search for sick or injured pandas
• Take sick or injured pandas to nearest panda hospital for care
• Conduct research on panda behavior, mating, breeding, diseases, etc.
• Educate tourist and visitors about panda protection
• Support communities adjacent to the reserves to minimize the need to use the panda habitat for their livelihood
• Educate local residents about the value of conserving the pandas and how tourism to the region is beneficial