On January 24, State Forestry Administration gave an official reply on the approval for building Yaozhihe Ecological Park at a national level. It is reported that the park, which is located in Maqiao Town, Baokang County, Xiangyang, is the first national ecological park built with approval in Xiangyang.

With a total area of 3,556 hectares, Yaozhihe Ecological Park boasts abundant ecological resources, including such landscape resources as forests, mountains and rivers, physiognomy, humanity, and meteorology. The park, composing of forests, mountains, rocks, waters, paths, and snows, is rich in vegetation resources thanks to the warm and humid climate. Its forest coverage rate reaches 94%. Known as a “Natural Plant Pavilion”, the park has 2,288.5 hectares of natural forests, with 1,228 types of vascular plants.