Legal support

Under the guidance of the nation's nature reserve regulation, the Shandong reserve is divided into three zones — core, buffer and experimental — each of which has its own permitted activities and restrictions.

"The area functions primarily as a nature reserve and then as a scenic site," said Hu, the tour guide, adding that the area has adhered to national regulations and confined tourist activities to the experimental zone with stringent controls on the number of visitors.

Last year, the area welcomed 800,000 visitors, a relatively low figure compared with other sites of similar size.

"The city of Dongying obtained the right to establish its own legislature in 2015, and the second substantive local regulation it rolled out was the Regulation on the Shandong Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, considering its geographic importance and the significance of its ecological diversity," said Hou Lingxiao, a member of the Dongying People's Congress.

The regulation sets out specific requirements for the management and protection of the nature reserve and its resources, such as the rescue of wild animals, the implementation of a wetland water replenishment mechanism and the prevention of invasive species. In addition, it details the penalties for illegal activities, which according to Hou provides solid legal support for the conservation of the nature reserve.

Following the implementation of the national Yellow River Protection Law last year, Shandong adopted its own protection regulation this year.

The nature reserve, now dubbed "the international airport for birds", has seen the population of oriental storks grow from two nests of seven fledglings in 2005 to 202 nests of 526 fledglings this year, with the number of bird species nearly doubling from 187 in the early 1990s to 373 today, Zhao said.

Zhao attributed these positive outcomes to years of extensive conservation endeavors, which have effectively stabilized the numbers of rare animal species and improved the local environment.

"We hope that the practice in the nature reserve provides insights on biodiversity conservation and environmental restoration, and the area will continue to thrive as the bird's shelter," she said.

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