Shey Phoksundo National Park

INTRODUCTION/LOCATION

The Shey Phoksundo National Park (Nepali: शे-फोकसुण्डो She-Phoksundo) is the largest and only trans-Himalayan national park in Nepal. It was established in 1984 and covers an area of 3,555 km2 (1,373 sq mi) in the districts of Dolpa and Mugu in the Mid-Western Region, Nepal. The protected area ranges in elevation from 2,130 m (6,990 ft) to 6,885 m (22,589 ft). Phoksundo Lake is the park's prominent feature, located at an elevation of 3,612 m (11,850 ft).
The park's headquarters are in Palam, Dolpa District.

The flora found within the park is exteremely diverse. The northern regions contain barren areas of the upper Himalayas. The Trans-Himalayan slope lands consist of some rhododendron, caragana shrubs, salix, juniper, white Himalayan birch, and the occasional silver fir dominate the high meadows of the Himalayas. Less than five percent of the park is forested, with much of it lying in the southern portion. The Suligad Vally’s flora consists of blue pine, spruce, hemlock, cedar, silver fir, poplar, rhododendron, and bamboo. The park also contains 286 species of ethnobotanical importance.
The park provides important habitat for endangered species including the snow leopard, grey wolf, musk deer, and blue sheep. Goral, great Tibetan sheep, Himalayan tahr, leopard, jackal, Himalayan black bear and yellow-throated marten are also found in the park. The park is home to six reptiles and 29 species of butterfly, including the highest flying butterfly in the world, Paralasa nepalaica. The park provides habitat for over 200 species of birds, such as Tibetan partridge, wood snipe, white-throated tit, wood accentor and crimson-eared rosefinch.

CLIMATE
Spanning the northern and southern aspects of the Himalayan crest, the park experiences a wide climatic range and lies in the transition zone from a monsoon dominated to an arid climate. Annual precipitation reaches 1,500 mm (59 in) in the south, whereas on northern slopes less than 500 mm (20 in) of rain falls. Most of the precipitation occurs during monsoon from July to September. The Dhaulagiri and Kanjiroba massifs form a massive barrier preventing most of the rain from reaching the Trans-Himalayan area. Winters are quite severe with frequent snowfalls above 2,500 m (8,200 ft) and temperatures remaining below freezing above 3,000 m (9,800 ft) through much of the winter.

CULTURE
The park contains many gompas and religious sites, many of which have been renovated. Shey Gompa, the most famous, was established in the 11th century. Thashung Gompa located near Phoksundo Lake was built about 900 years ago to conserve wildlife. Ringmo village, a typical Tibetan village, is scenically nestled in the park.
The park is home to more than 9,000 people, and their villages are among the highest settlements on earth.[citation needed] The local people are subsistence farmers growing potatoes, buckwheat, mustard, beans and some barley; and keeping livestock for food and wool. They barter with Tibetans for salt and wool. Their lifestyle is typically Tibetan. Most of them are Buddhists; the people around Phoksundo area practice Bön.
There are communal gompas in most of the villages.

PHOKSUNDO LAKE
it is located in shey phoksundo national park. (Nepali: फोक्सुण्डो ताल, NLK Phoksuṇḍo tāl), is an alpine fresh water oligotrophic lake in Nepal's Shey Phoksundo National Park, located at an elevation of 3,611.5 m (11,849 ft) above sea level in the Dolpa District. Phoksundo Lake is 494 ha (1.91 sq mi) in size with a water volume of 409,000,000 m3 (1.44×1010 cu ft) and a discharge of 3.715 m3/s (131.2 cu ft/s). In 2004, a survey by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology measured the maximum depth of the lake at 145 m (476 ft).
In September 2007, Phoksundo Lake has been designated a Ramsar site.
On the lake' southern end, the village of Ringmo sits on the 30,000- to 40,000-year-old landslide dam that formed the lake. Past the dam, the waters of the lake plunge over a 167 m (548 ft) tall waterfall.