Multifunctional mountain forests in arid land: The Tienshan range in Xinjiang of China

Mountain forests in arid land are rather limited and rare resources. The Tienshan mountains in Xinjiang have forests only on shady slopes in the middle mountains (1600-2700 m) which firstly serve as valuable tourist spots. The forests were appraised the most beautiful forest of China in 2005 by Chinese National Geography. Secondly, montane forests help smooth the curve of seasonal runoff by reducing high-water runoff and enhancing dry-season runoff, with flooding disasters much heavier in the southern flank where montane forests appear only in small patches than in the northern. To a large extent, mountain forests act as ?umbrella?, i.e., providing ecological security, for the oases downstream where live more than 90% of the local population. Finally, large-area wild fruit forests have been found in the Ili valley in the west section of Chinese Tienshan, including wild apricot, wild apple, wild cherry, wild walnut, etc., which are adversity-resistant and gene resources for world horticulture and biological genetics. The forest management at present, however, is unsustainable, and new forest policies need to be developed.