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Site description (2004 baseline):

The Pin Valley National Park is located in the Spiti subdivision of Lahaul and Spiti districts. High mountain ranges and narrow river valleys are typical of the area, where flat land is uncommon. According to the biogeographic classification of Rodgers and Panwar (1988), Pin Valley lies in the Northwest Himalayan Zone. The Sutlej River divides it into two provinces namely, northwest and west. Spiti is a typical mountain desert, massive glaciers covering a major portion of the Park. There is no major lake in the Park. The mountainsides are bare, except for a few mountain folds where some vegetation manages to grow in protected niches. The terrain and the climate are antagonistic to the growth of forests in this area. The precipitation is mostly in the form of snowfall. The general topography is highly rugged, with high altitude barren areas and an arid climate. The drainage system is made up of six rivulets namely Kidul Cho, Khaminger, Debsa, Kilung, Pin and its tributary. The former four rivers join to become the Parahio River in the main valley. Glaciers feed all these rivers. Light tremors occasionally occur in the Park, as Lahaul-Spiti district lies in a major earthquake prone area, i.e., the alpine Himalayan mountain system. This Park adjoins the buffer zone of the Great Himalayan National Park to the west and shares its southern boundary with Rupi-Bhabha Sanctuary (another IBA). The valleys of the Park are highly disturbed because of the high incidence of grazing. Pin Valley NP is a typical cold desert ecosystem. According to the classification of Champion and Seth (1968), the vegetation comes under Dry Alpine Scrub and Dwarf Juniper. Cretagunus sp., Berberis sp. and Lonicera sp. are the important shrubs. A few thorny trees and bushes are found in the vicinity of the villages.

AVIFAUNA: Not many studies have been done on the avifauna of the National Park, since it is situated at high altitude and also because of its cold desert type of climate. The site falls under the Biome-5 (Eurasian High Montane). The key habitats of the site are scrub and open habitats at and above the tree line, including alpine and subalpine scrub and grassland; inland cliffs and rocky slopes and also montane wetlands and some gravel and sand plains where Himalayan Snowcock Tetraogallus himalayensis, Tibetan Partridge Perdix hodgsoniae, Ibisbill Ibidorhyncha struthersii and other species of Biome-5 are found.

OTHER KEY FAUNA: The Pin Valley NP has most of the mammal species typical of the cold desert of Ladakh and Tibet: Snow leopard Uncia uncia, Himalayan Ibex Capra ibex, Bharal Pseudois nayaur, Lynx Lynx lynx, Fox Vulpes vulpes, Tibetan Wolf Canis lupus chanco, Himalayan Marmot Marmota bobak, Woolly Hare Lepus oiostolus and Mouse hare Pika Ochotona roylei.

MAIN THREATS: Grazin; Construction works; Tourism and recreation; Unsustainable exploitation of the resources; Collection of medicinal herbs; Cutting of bushes for fuel.

Pin Valley is a high altitude Himalayan Park, typical of the Tibetan cold desert. It supports a variety of rare and threatened mammals, but is largely unstudied owing to its remote location within a politically sensitive area (Singh et al. 1990). The Park is uninhabited, but 17 villages are located in the buffer zone. The villagers are allowed to graze their livestock inside the Park, and have herb collection rights. There is a virtual invasion of Government machinery in the villages of Pin Valley. Various departments such as Public Welfare and Development, Forest, Revenue, Health and Education have their offices in the Pin Valley. The construction work undertaken by these departments does not appear to be directly linked with the needs of the people of Pin Valley. There is instead great need for a well thought out integrated development programme for the local population, in accordance with their immediate and long term needs. In recent years, hundreds of labourers from Bihar and Chhatisgarh have been brought in to build and repair roads. Charaching incidents also have increased. The local people, being Buddhists do not kill animals, but the emigrant labourers do not have the same sentiments.

Key contributor: IBA Team.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Pin Valley National Park (India). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/pin-valley-national-park-iba-india on 26/12/2024.