[Ecosystem management of settlement area in Xingshan County]

In the immigrant settlement area of Three-Gorges reservoir region in Xingshan County, Hubei Province, the ecological problems were the restoration of degraded ecosystem, rehabilitation of degraded crop land, and reconstruction of towns and villages. The key to the construction of the settlement area was reassigning the way of land use. The major aim of restoration of natural ecosystems should be to improve water conservation capacity of the land, because this area is located in the catchment of the Xiangxi River. The goals of management were determined as the coordinated development of both agricultural and natural forest ecosystems, the maintenance and increase of water conservation capacity of ecosystems, and the maintenance and extension of wildlife habitats. For the purpose of effective ecosystem management, the area was classified into four divisions of functional conservation region, functional rehabilitation, natural reserves and natural maintenance. The ecosystem management of the settlement area in Xingshan County was implemented in every land cell, using GIS and the typical grid-square survey method. The approach of multi-objects optimal spatial plan was developed in this paper, in which, special emphasis was put on the ecological, economic and social benefits in the construction of towns and villages. According to the scheme of management, the cover of forest in the settlement area, would increase by 30.19%, and water conservation capacity of the ecosystems would raise by 38.7%.