Method for determining national parks scope and its application in the candidate areas of Qinling National Park

The scope and zoning plan is a fundamental and critical task in the formal establishment of national parks. This process directly impacts the scientificity and protection value of national park and plays a crucial role in coordinating protection and development. With the continuous promotion of national park construction, there is an urgent need for a scientific, reasonable, standardized, and suitable method for determining the scope and zoning of national parks that aligns with China′s national conditions. With the candidate area of Qinling National Park as a case study, this research explores a two-stage method of "planning" and "discussing", encompassing four steps of science, feasibility, coordination, and demonstration. The study focuses on key aspects such as background investigation, core values, priority protection areas, functional spatial coupling, alignment with construction and management needs, social impact assessments, and coordinating feasibility. This establish method combines technical means with policy requirements to form a robust framework for determining the scope and zoning plan for Qinling National Park. The research findings indicate that: ① The candidate area of Qinling National Park covers 58200 km², with 20500 km² identified as priority protection area through evaluation. Thus, the designated plan for Qinling National Park is 12900 km². This area effectively preserves the unique ecological geographic unit of the north-south transitional zone, the vertical ecological belt spectrum on both sides, the gene pools of rare species such as the "Four Treasures of Qinling", important water sources, and significant cultural heritage sites. ② Based on this technical method, the process follows the sequence of "determining the scope of the national park evaluation area-scientifically understanding the core values of Qinling protection-identifying priority protection areas-coordinating the multi-dimensional functions of the spatial scope-evaluating the effectiveness of ecological protection-demonstrating the compliance of the conditions for the establishment of the national park". The identified scope of Qinling National Park fully embodies the concept and initial intention of national park establishment and seeks an optimal balance between the necessity of protection and the feasibility of management, thereby maximizing the effectiveness of the establishment of the national park. ③ The overall design logic of this technical method is clear, concise and practical, providing a technical pathway for solving the scientific boundary of national parks.