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Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve - Myanmar
 The Hukaung Valley, in far northern Myanmar, is part of an area considered one of the global hotspots for biodiversity. Bordering the Assam state in India, and enclosed by the Patkai and Kuomon Mountain ranges, this is the birthplace of the Chindwinn River, the main tributary of the Ayeyarwady River, one of Southeast Asia's most important waterways. During May 1999, a biological expedition carried out by Dr. Alan Rabinowitz and the Myanmar Forest Department traveled 200 miles on foot and boat through the heart of the Hukaung Valley. This remote area was made famous during World War II when the Ledo Road was built as a military supply route for the allies between India and China. In 1999, the road was an abandoned dirt tract, bridges were washed away, and much of the interior valley was largely uninhabited.
The remoteness of the valley, widespread flooding in the lowlands during the rainy season, and severe malaria have made this area inhospitable to people, but a refuge for wildlife. In the initial survey, signs of elephants, tigers, leopards, wild boar, gaur, Himalayan black bears, sambar deer and muntjac were found in numbers rarely seen elsewhere in the forests of present day Asia. In the surrounding mountains, hunters brought evidence of what was the newly discovered leaf deer, a commonly hunted species yet unprotected throughout its known range.
In February 2001, a second WCS/Myanmar Forestry Department team visited the area as part of  a countrywide effort to survey tigers. Camera trap photos confirmed the presence of tigers and indicated the likelihood of a viable, breeding population in the valley. In response to these findings, and based on recommendations by the 1999 WCS survey, the Myanmar government designated a 2,500 square mile uninhabited piece of Hukaung Valley as the country's largest protected area - the Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
In March 2002, with the completion of the national tiger field survey, the Hukaung Valley stood out as one of only three areas in the country where tigers were found within core habitat. The final National Tiger Action Plan, presented to the Forest Department in July 2002 listed the Hukaung Valley as the highest priority site for immediate management and protection efforts. As a result of this data, the Myanmar Forest Department proposed the expansion of the wildlife sanctuary and the designation of the entire valley as the country's first tiger reserve.
At least four major ethnic groups reside within Hukaung Valley: the Kachin, and the associated Kachin Independant Army (KIA), the Naga, the  Burman people, and the Lisu. In 2003, Dr. Rabinowitz and Forest Department staff met with representatives from all of these groups, and all expressed their support for the tiger reserve and their desire to work with the Forest Department in wildlife protection, training, and sustainable use schemes within the Hukaung Valley. However, since the first survey in 1999, the situation had changed dramatically within Hukaung Valley. Bridges that had been destroyed for decades were rebuilt and thousands of people were now using vehicles along the old Ledo Road to access the valley. There was increased human pressure on the forest in the form of hunting, fuel wood, rattan, and bamboo collection, gold mining, and other forest uses, both within the sanctuary and in the adjoining forest areas. The tiger population, already under long term hunting pressure, was now in immediate danger of being wiped out. The most severe threat was the hunting of the tiger's key prey species, sambar deer and wild pig, for commercial sale.
On March 1, 2004, the Minister of Forestry signed the legal declaration expanding the original wildlife sanctuary to cover the entire Hukaung Valley, an area of 8,452 square miles (21,890 square kilometers). The Hukaung Valley immediately became the largest tiger reserve as well as one of the largest protected forest areas in the world, nearly the size of the state of Vermont. It also became the fourth protected area of the Northern Forest Complex, a region of 12,000 square miles (more than 30,000 square kilometers) ranging from lowland Indo-Malayan jungle to alpine Sino-Himalayan habitat.
Upon the signing of the reserve declaration, the Ministry of Forestry agreed to work with WCS to immediately initiate activities such as staffing of the reserve, settling land claim issues of the local people, proper delineation of reserve boundaries, building headquarters and guard stations, building an education center and local education kiosks at key settlements, and providing an extensive community outreach program.
To date, these efforts have been very successful. Gold mining is almost completely shut down in the valley, and there is a noticeable decrease in the number of guns in the area. The wildlife police force, based out of the WCS built forest  department headquarters and guard stations, has effectively decreased the hunting of wildlife in the reserve. The KIA is providing pigs and chickens to local people living in the Hukaung Valley, taking hunting pressure away from the native ungulates. Professional veterinary and animal husbandry training has also been provided by the KIA.
WCS has been working in this area since 1996 and it was now one of the most important protected landscapes for wildlife in the world. UNESCO officials are strongly urging that this valley be recommended as a World Heritage Site.
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