Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Khumbu, Nepal

Alton Byers

The Mountain Institute, Elkins, WV

An integrated analysis of landscape change in the alpine zone of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal, is presented based on the results from five separate research expeditions conducted between 1984 and 2004. Research results indicate that alpine ecosystems (4,000–5,200 m) within the Imja and Gokyo valleys have been significantly impacted during the past twenty to thirty years as a result of poorly controlled tourism. Impacts within the alpine zone include the overharvesting of fragile alpine shrubs and plants for expedition and tourist lodge fuel, overgrazing, accelerated erosion, and uncontrolled lodge building. Evidence suggests that similar scenarios of landscape change in the alpine zone are occurring elsewhere around the Everest massif as the result of adventure tourism. This article stresses that the alpine zone is a comparatively neglected landscape that is in need of greater protection, conservation, and restoration involving integrated, applied research to the clarifi- cation of problems, the design of remedial projects, and monitoring of their impacts. ‘‘Community-based Con- servation and Restoration of the Everest Alpine Zone,’’ a Sherpa-led project established in May 2004, is provided as an example of how the paper’s research results are currently being utilized by local communities. Key Words: Nepal, Sherpa, landscape change, alpine.

lpine environments throughout the Himalaya In the following paper I present the results of an in- have been comparatively neglected in the sci- tegrated analysis of historical and contemporary land- A entific and development literature, despite the scape change processes in the alpine zone of Sagarmatha fact that elsewhere in the mountain world they have (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal, based on the find- been long recognized for their fragility and lack of resil- ings of five separate research expeditions to the region iency (Ives and Barry 1974, 871–951; Price 1981, 289– between 1984 and 2004. The earlier (1984–1987) work 300). Soils are young and thin, environments are cold was, quite unintentionally, among the first to challenge and harsh, plant growth cycles are slow, and even minor quantitatively the models of contemporary landscape forms of disturbance can take decades to heal. They degradation in the Sagarmatha National Park that were cover 3 percent of the earth’s surface and are inhabited popular at that time (Byers 1987a, b, c). In fact, results by more than 10,000 species of plants, making alpine suggested that the park’s subalpine (o4,200 m) forests, ecosystems one of the most biodiverse habitats in the shrub/grasslands, and surficial processes were relatively world per unit area (Ko¨rner 1999). They are also im- stable and that a then unknown combination of natural portant as highland water catchments for lowlands; as and anthropogenic factors appeared to be adversely im- sources of natural products (e.g., edible and medicinal pacting the alpine zone (4,000–5,200 m). Still, numer- plants); and for the sustainability of local agropastoral ous unanswered questions remained that I have economies through seasonal agriculture, animal hus- continued to pursue to achieve a better understanding of bandry, and the ecotourism trade (trekking and moun- human–environment interactions in the Khumbu and taineering). While there is a copious Himalayan literature elsewhere in the mountain world. The results of my post- concerned with human–land relationships within the 1984 work are presented here as an example of inte- lower agropastoral zones below 4,000 m (e.g., see Ives and grated and applied research in remote mountain regions Messerli 1989; Zurick and Karan 1999), few studies have that, in partnership with other scholars and field prac- focused on the sustainable use, conservation, and resto- titioners, has (a) served as a fundamental tool toward ration of the more fragile alpine landscapes. Linkages process and problem clarification, (b) facilitated the between, and awareness of, the importance of alpine conceptual design of prospective remedial projects based landscape stewardship and sustainable local economies on reliable information from the physical and social remain limited throughout the Himalaya as a result. sciences, and (c) led to the recent funding and ongoing

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95(1), 2005, pp. 112–140 r 2005 by Association of American Geographers Initial submission, March 2003; final acceptance, September 2004 Published by Blackwell Publishing, 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, U.K. Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 113 implementation of a project in the Khumbu designed to Karan 1999, ix). Nevertheless, the positive contributions protect and restore a heavily impacted ecosystem, that of the ‘‘Himalayan crisis’’ debates could be said to in- is, the alpine zone. clude (a) a donor and development community some- what more focused on the need for reliable baseline information and monitoring systems, (b) a generation of Background: Khumbu and the Theory of Himalayan geographers committed to the principles Himalayan Environmental Degradation of long-term, integrated field research, and (c) a greater global awareness for the importance of mountain During the 1970s and early 1980s, it was commonly peoples, environments, and cultures in general (Stone assumed that the Himalayan mountains were approach- 1992; Mountain Forum 1995; Messerli and Ives 1997, ing catastrophic levels of environmental degradation, vii–xi). linked primarily to growing contemporary human and Paralleling the development of THED, the Sagar- cattle populations. Landscapes were said to be ex- matha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Khumbu, Nepal periencing unprecedented increases in deforestation, (Figure 1) was frequently cited as a representative case overgrazing, and the agricultural clearing of marginal study of historical1 landscape stability, followed by con- land. In turn, these phenomena were claimed to be re- temporary landscape change and degradation, in the sponsible for promoting near-crisis levels of fuelwood High Himalaya (von Fu¨rer-Haimendorf 1964, 1975, shortages, soil erosion, landslides, flooding, and sediment 1984; Lucas, Hardie, and Hodder 1974; Speechly 1976; deposition (e.g., Eckholm 1975a, b, 1976; Sterling 1976; Jeffries 1982; Bjo¨nness 1980; Coburn 1983; Hinrichsen Reiger 1981). Catastrophic consequences were predicted et al. 1983). Historically, this interpretation maintained within twenty years. Although supported by little that major landscape transformations (i.e., the large- quantitative or long-term data, a widely accepted para- scale conversion from virgin forest to shrub/grassland on digm for the international development community was most south-facing slopes) were the result of 500 years of established that became the foundation for dozens settlement, population growth, and pasture expansion by of multimillion-dollar conservation projects throughout the ancestors of the Sherpa people, but that ecological the Himalaya-Hindu Kush region. These well-meaning stability, nevertheless, predominated because of the projects were typically designed to reverse the trends effectiveness of indigenous management systems. Con- of environmental degradation through afforestation, ap- temporary issues such as increased forest loss, uncon- propriate technologies, alternative sources of energy, trolled grazing, and accelerated soil erosion were improved land management techniques, and other in- believed to have been encountered and/or exacerbated terventions (e.g., see USAID 1980). only since the late 1950s. Factors of influence, according By the mid-1980s, the conventional wisdom driving to most studies, included the imposition of nationalized these popular perceptions was isolated and synthesized forest policies in 1957, the consequential breakdown of into what ultimately became known as the Theory traditional indigenous management systems, Tibetan of Himalayan Environmental Degradation (THED; Ives refugee impacts in the early 1960s, misunderstandings 1987). The growing uncertainty resulting from the small associated with the park’s establishment in the 1970s, and often contradicting database in support of devel- the rapid growth of tourism, and various other factors. opment projects began to be highlighted (e.g., Currey Challenges to the Sagarmatha National Park ‘‘degra- 1984; Thompson and Warburton 1985; Thompson, dation scenario’’ began to emerge in the late 1980s with Warburton, and Hatley 1986), and the soundness of the completion of more detailed, longer-term studies of formulating management policy on popular and subjec- the park and its people (Byers 1987a, b, c, 1997; Fisher tive assumptions questioned (e.g., Ives 1985; Thompson 1990; Brower 1991; Stevens 1993, 1997b; Brower and and Warburton 1985; Hamilton 1986a, b). The THED Dennis 1998). Geographers, anthropologists, and others was challenged by the academic community as being have played key roles in the clarification of human ‘‘overly simplistic . . . not supported by rigorous or reli- disturbance and landscape change processes in the able data . . . and [guilty of ignoring] the great com- Khumbu and elsewhere in the Himalaya, utilizing a plexity of the region and its peoples’’ (Ives 1987, 189; range of field tools and methods from the social and Ives and Messerli 1989; Ives 2004). This particular point physical sciences (see Ives and Messerli 1989). As a of view is generally accepted by most mountain geogra- contribution to the ongoing study and understanding of phers today, including those who question that a ‘‘single, the Khumbu valley and its Sherpa inhabitants, I present unified model of environmental degradation in the below the results of five research expeditions to the re- Himalaya’’ ever existed in the first place (Zurick and gion conducted between 1984 and 2004. 114 Byers

Figure 1. Sagarmatha National Park, Khumbu, Nepal.

Landscapes and People recurva and indica, and Berberis sp. shrubs, with a diverse variety of herbs, forbs, and grasses. The more moist and Landscapes2. The Sagarmatha National Park, offi- less accessible northern aspects contain large areas of cially created in 1976, is located in northeastern Nepal mixed fir (Abies spectabilis), silver birch (Betula utilis), in the Solu Khumbu District of Sagarmatha Zone (Figure and rhododendron (R. campanulatum, R. arboreum, R. 1). The 1,114 km2 park is roughly triangular in shape campylocarpum, R. hodgsonii), with locally important and nearly enclosed by mountain peaks in excess of associations of maple (Acer caudatum), Mountain ash 6,000 m. The park’s northern boundary forms the inter- (Sorbus microphyllus), willow (Salix eriostachya, Salix national frontier with the Tibet Autonomous Region of daltoniana), bamboo (Arundinara sp.), and juniper China over a distance of 40 km. It includes the world’s (Juniperus recurva) (3,390–3,768 m).4 The alpine zone highest mountain, Mt. Everest (8,850 m),3 also known (4,200–5,500 m) is divided into a lower belt dominated to Tibetan speakers by the centuries-old name of by moist alpine shrubs of dwarf rhododendrons (Rhodo- Chomolangma, and to Nepali speakers as Sagarmatha. dendron setosum,R.nivale,R.lepidotum, and R. anthro- In 2002, the Lukla, Pharak, and Phakding regions south pogon) and prostrate junipers (Juniperus recurva or J. and outside of the park were declared a buffer zone. indica); and an upper belt dominated by Kobresia pygm- Much of the regional physiography is composed of aea mats and cushion plants such as Arenaria byophylla, south- and north-facing slopes. Southern aspects at the Anaphalis cavei, and Leontopodium monocephalum (Miehe lower elevations (3,600–4,030 m) are generally charac- 1987, 1989). terized by dry, terracetted shrub/grasslands of Rhodo- Geographically, the Khumbu region lies within the dendron lepidotum, Cotoneaster microphyllus, Juniperus subtropical Asian monsoon zone that is characterized by Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 115 pronounced summer rainfall maxima, with more than 80 Mallory’s body on the Tibetan side in 1999 (e.g., Hem- percent of the annual precipitation falling during an mleb, Johnson, and Simonson 1999) resulted in addi- approximately four-month period between June and tional global interest in the region, as did the fiftieth September (Mani 1981; Barry and Chorley 1982). Top- anniversary celebrations of the climbing of Mt. Everest ographic barriers to the full force of the monsoon are in May 2003. imposed by a series of mountain ranges along the park’s Following more than twenty-five years of dramatic southern borders that include the Numbur, Konge Ri, tourist and infrastructure growth, new lodges continued Tramserku, and Kang Taiga Himal. The average annual to be constructed in nearly every village and seasonal precipitation of Namche Bazaar (3,440 m), for example, settlement between Lukla and the Everest base camp is 1,148 mm/yr and decreases with elevational gain (e.g., during the monsoon season of 2001, presumably in an- 518 mm/yr in Dingboche (4,420 m)). Winters are nor- ticipation of even greater tourist numbers during the mally dry, although occasional midlatitude cyclones, 2001–2002 season (see Nepal 2001, 783–85, and Nepal, driven by the subtropical jet stream that takes its winter Kohler, and Banzhaf 2002, 38–42, for case studies of position just south of the Himalayan ridge, can cause structural change within Namche Bazar between 1955– heavy snowfall events (Klaus 1966, 305, cited in 1997). Unfortunately, escalating civil unrest throughout Zimmermann, Bichsel, and Kienholz 1986, 31). Perma- Nepal, combined with the attacks of 11 September 2001, nent snowline is situated at approximately 6,000 m on resulted in the cancellation of all climbing and most south-facing slopes and 5,700 m on north-facing slopes trekking activity in the Khumbu during the 2001–2002 (Haffner 1972). season. Prior to that time, tourists had outnumbered the local Sherpa populations as early as the late 1970s, People. Approximately 3,500 Sherpa live in the bringing with them a variety of positive (additional in- Khumbu region of Nepal’s Solu Khumbu District. come, international exposure, cross-cultural exchange) They are widely believed to have migrated from eastern and negative influences (inflation, the modification of Tibet to the region some 500 years ago, possibly linked to traditional values, changes in the local workforce, and political instability as well as an economic depression loss of life among high-altitude Sherpa climbers) (see associated with the Little Ice Age cooling (L. N. Sherpa Coppock 1978; von Fu¨rer-Haimendorf 1984; Fisher 1999). They continue to practice a form of Tibetan 1990; Stevens 1993; Lachapelle 1998; Ortner 1999; Buddhism. Barley, buckwheat, and potatoes provide the Nepal 2000, 2001). By September of 2004, however, staples for the local population, supplemented by dairy it was observed that tourism and lodge building had products from yak (Bos grunniens) and yak/cattle cross- rebounded in full force. An estimated 19,000 visitors breed herds (Brower 1991). Forests are an integral part arrived in 2003, and lodge building was once again of village life and provide fuelwood, structural timber, considered to be the most promising of all possible litter, and grazing areas (Stevens 1993). financial investments. Tourism to the region has grown exponentially since the early 1960s, from twenty visitors in 1964 (Naylor 1970) to 18,200 during the 1997–1998 season (Nepal Environmental Degradation in the Khumbu: 2000; Nepal, Kohler, and Banzhaf 2002). Reportedly, Literature Review more than 27,000 visitors arrived in 2001 (N. W. Sherpa 2001). Most trek to the Tengboche monastery (3,857 m) During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the anthro- or Everest base-camp region (5,364 m), staying in pologist von Fu¨rer-Haimendorf was commonly refer- lodges, teahouses, or the tent camps of the organized enced as noting that in the late 1950s, the forests of trek. Unprecedented international attention was focused Khumbu were in good condition compared to ‘‘the for- on the Khumbu in May of 1996, when a freak snowstorm ests of lower and climatically more favorable regions, killed twelve climbers on Everest (Boukreev and DeWalt where peasants of Chetri, Brahmin, and Newar stock 1997; Krakauer 1997). Surprisingly, requests for Everest have in recent years wrought enormous devastation’’ climbing permits increased in the year following the (von Fu¨rer-Haimendorf 1964, 112). These better forest tragedy, as did the number of trekkers who visited the conditions were said to be in part related to the presence base camp region. The popularity of films such as the of shingo- and osho-naua, or village-appointed forest and 1996 large-format IMAX movie, Everest, and books (e.g., field guards with the power to fine villagers found cutting Coburn 1997) attests to the enduring fascination that wood or abusing the community-defined land-use regu- much of the world holds for the Khumbu, Everest, lations. The nationalization of all forest lands in 1957, and its Sherpa inhabitants. The discovery of George however, supposedly abolished this traditional and time- 116 Byers tested regulatory system and encouraged widespread 402) stated, as had many others, that the word forest removal, prompting von Fu¨rer-Haimendorf to ‘‘namche’’ in the Sherpa language translates to ‘‘dense write in 1975 that ‘‘forests in the vicinity of the villages forest,’’ in contrast to the conspicuous absence of trees have already been seriously depleted, and particularly today.7 Jeffries (1982, 274) wrote of the ‘‘excessive col- near Namche Bazaar whole hillsides which were densely lection of firewood and forest litter’’ in the park, while forested in 1957 are now bare of tree growth, and vil- Hinrichsen et al. (1983, 204) suggested that ‘‘more de- lagers have to go further and further to collect dry fire- forestation [has occurred in the Khumbu] during the wood’’ (von Fu¨rer-Haimendorf 1975, 97–98). Other past two decades than in the preceding 200 years.’’ factors frequently mentioned include the arrival of Andrews (1983, 183) wrote that ‘‘deforestation and approximately 6,000 Tibetan refugees in 1959, moun- subsequent erosion of the land are among the most se- taineering expeditions and trekking parties creating in- rious environmental problems encountered in the Solu creased fuelwood demands, and a general fear over the Khumbu,’’ and included a photograph of gullied trail forthcoming establishment of a national park in 1976 systems above Namche Bazar that contribute to ‘‘Nepal’s that led to heavy timber/fuelwood harvesting prior to greatest export,’’ its topsoil. the imposition of anticipated regulations (Jefferies 1982; In summary, a range of primarily short-term studies Coburn 1983; Hinrichsen et al. 1983; von Fu¨rer- and consultancies resulted in the development of a Haimendorf 1984; Reinhard 2001).5 popular, three-point scenario tracing the development The environmental literature subsequent to von of a ‘‘crisis in the Khumbu’’ that allegedly began in Fu¨rer-Haimendorf was largely authored by officials of the the 1950s. Paralleling the THED theories proposed for the New Zealand and Nepal governments during the early Himalaya in general during the same time period (see and mid-1970s, when proposals for the establishment of Ives and Messerli 1989, 3–4), my summary of the a national park in the Everest region were being drafted. Khumbu scenario is presented below: For example, one of the frequently quoted cultural/ ecological justifications given for park establishment (1) Landscape modification, CE 1500–1950 emphasizes the need to conserve the ‘‘depleting forests of Prior to the arrival of the Sherpa people, the the Khumbu’’ as wood sources and conservators of soil Khumbu region was presumed to be an unpopu- and water, since ‘‘[forest] destruction would result in lated, pristine wilderness, entirely forested below disastrous erosion leading to enormous economic and 3,800 m. The reduction of most forest cover, and aesthetic loss to the country’’ (Blower 1972, cited in origins of the present-day shrub/grassland forma- Mishra 1973, 2). Speechly (1976, 2) wrote that the tions dominating most southerly aspects, is sup- ‘‘forest areas in the proposed Sagarmatha National Park posedly the result of modifications imposed by the are, as a result of a combination of influences, in a de- Sherpa people since their arrival approximately 500 pleted state, such that if present pressure is continued, years ago. It is assumed that the Sherpas removed severe environmental damage will result.’’ Lucas, Har- the trees from the southern slopes in order to ob- die, and Hodder (1974, 32) wrote that they and other tain timber, fuelwood, and increased pasture area to New Zealand Mission members ‘‘saw too much evidence support increasing human and cattle populations. of incipient erosion to feel other than a sense of deep In spite of this widespread disturbance throughout concern for the future.’’ Large landslides, torrentlike the valley, ecological stability is thought to have features, and gullies in the Khumbu region were attrib- characterized the Khumbu until the late 1950s uted to the effects of overgrazing,6 and erosion control because of the traditional and time-tested systems was said to necessarily ‘‘involve constraints on or elimi- of land management employed by the Sherpa in- nation of grazing and lessening of forest exploitation’’ habitants. (Lucas, Hardie, and Hodder 1974). (2) Landscape degradation, 1950–1980s The theme of environmental degradation, in spite of The breakdown of these traditional forest and certain management controls imposed by the park since land management systems is thought to have 1976, was carried well into the 1980s by other re- commenced in 1957 (a result of the Private searchers and development personnel. Bjo¨nness (1980, Forest Nationalization Act of the same year), and 270), for example, wrote that overgrazing had ‘‘led to supposedly they were not replaced by those of a heavy depletion of vegetation’’ that, combined with equal effectiveness. Opportunistic villagers removed forest depletion, ‘‘has [left] a rudimentary vegetation nearly all trees from the densely forested slopes cover not capable of holding the soil’’ so that the ‘‘early above Namche Bazar, Syangboche, Kunde, and stages of erosion are much in evidence.’’ Joshi (1982, Khumjung sometime during the eighteen-year Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 117

period between 1957 and 1975 (von Fu¨rer- scape into agricultural fields and pastures for cattle (Oppitz Haimendorf 1975). Tibetan refugees, members and 1968, 80). staff of mountaineering expeditions, and tourists hastened the process of forest removal by creating Pangboche and Dingboche villages, however, were ap- increased demands for fuelwood and timber prod- parently already well known as meditation sites at this ucts. More ‘‘deforestation’’ in the Khumbu was time (Oppitz 1968, 77; Bernbaum 1980, 53). Isolated believed to have occurred during the twenty-year oral traditions also suggest that Rai shepherds may have period between 1957 and the early 1980s than in been using the Khumbu’s high pastures well before the the preceding two centuries. arrival of the first Sherpa (see Zangbu and Klatzel 1995, (3) Environmental consequences 12), and that ‘‘certain ruins in high places in the Dudh These land uses, it was claimed, resulted in over- Kosi valley are sometimes said to be the remains of Rai grazing and forest removal, which left insufficient shepherds’ huts’’ (Stevens 1993, 49). Nevertheless, no vegetation to hold the soil. Landslides, torrent-like conclusive documentation or evidence for pre-Sherpa features, gullies, and increased surficial erosion occupation was known to exist. processes were also attributed to the effects of Several insights to the question were provided by the overgrazing and general land misuse. Severe con- results of the 1984 United Nations University/Man and sequences were described, and worse were pre- the Biosphere (UNU/MAB) Mountain Hazards Mapping dicted, unless grazing and exploitation of the forest Project, Phase II (Ives and Messerli 1981). Included resource could be constrained or eliminated. within the project’s research design was the analysis of seven soil profiles for charcoal species identification and 14 The following sections examine each of these assump- C dating, with one profile selected for preserved pollen tions through an integrated analysis of historical and analysis. These data were supplemented by the analysis contemporary land-use/landscape change processes of soil and buried charcoal samples collected from an within the Sagarmatha National Park. additional five sites in 1999 (Table 1). Samples from present-day forest, shrub/grassland, and alpine forma- tions are thus represented within the collective analyses. Historical Landscape Change: Pollen Analysis However, of particular interest here are the data derived and 14C Dating from excavations located within subalpine shrub/grass- land formations that dominate the park’s south-facing As mentioned previously, the origins of the present- aspects between 3,400 and 4,000 m. day shrub/grassland vegetation formations are generally Throughout these relatively dry landscapes, the con- attributed to modifications imposed on the landscape by sistent discovery of buried podzolic paleosols, normally the Sherpa over the past 500 years (e.g., Naylor 1970, characteristic of moist and forested environments, was a 30). Although the shortage of reliable data precludes a first indication that significant vegetative and climate definitive chronology of events (L. N. Sherpa 1999, 41), change had occurred in the region within the past sev- Oppitz (1968) used older Sherpa documents found in eral thousand years. A typical profile above the village of Solu Khumbu in 1965 to suggest that a small group of Khumjung (3,908 m) was selected for detailed analysis. Sherpa (four protoclans) left the Tinkye area of Tibet Four levels of soil within the profile were analyzed for (northeast of the Khumbu) in the 1530s to escape Sul- pollen content from the 45–50 cm, 35–40 cm, 15–20 tan Sa’id Khan’s expected invasion of Tibet in 1531– cm, and 5–10 cm depths (Figure 2). Results showed a 1533 CE. Crossing the Nangpa La pass (5,716 m), these dominance of tree pollen (50 percent of the total pollen ancestors of the Sherpa are described in ca. 1770 texts as sum) in the three lower levels that consisted of Abies having found the Solu-Khumbu to be (10–15 percent), Alnus (10 percent), Betula (20–25 percent), and Pinus (2–3 percent) with traces of Sa- mbucus, Viburnum, Euonymus, Quercus, and Picea. A di- uninhabited by people, an empty, secluded region. In the beginning, this secluded region was . . . completely, from the verse herbaceous flora (total 40–50 percent throughout) highest height to the deepest valley, overgrown with thick was represented by taxa in the families Cyperaceae, virgin forests, and populated [by an abundance of wild Apiaceae, Brassicaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Rosaceae, and animals]. The rivers had no bridges, the cliffs no steps; the genus Thalictrum. Fern spores were particularly there were no footpaths, no dwellings, no fields of grain, no abundant in the intermediate (35–40 cm and 15–20 cm) woven cloth . . . no cows to milk. [These first settlers] levels, and Poaceae were very low (o5 percent). Tree destroyed most of the forests and transformed the land- and shrub pollen diminished at the upper level (40 118 Byers

Table1. Location, Depth, Species, and Age of Charcoal Fragments Found at Depth Location Depth (cm) Species Age (C14 yrs B.P.) n

Shrub/grassland slopes above Khumjung village, podzolic profile, 31 Abies 1,480 360 5 elevation 5 3,908 m, aspect 5 1501 41 Abies 2,170 330 1 41 Salix 2,170 330 2 41 Clematis 2,170 330 2 41 Lonicera 2,170 330 2

Shrub/grassland slopes northeast of Namche Bazaar, exposed podzolic 50 Abies 4,205 285 15 profile from trail cut, opposite Park Headquarters, elevation 5 3,555 m, aspect 5 1701

Moist shrub/grassland, north-facing slopes near Kunde village, buried 55 Abies (not dated) 15 podzolic paleosol, elevation 5 3,847 m, aspect 5 51 Betula (not dated) 2 Rhododendron (not dated) 1

Birch/juniper/rhododendron forest, east facing, near Sanesa village, 55 Abies -1 5 podzolic profile, elevation 5 3,719 m, aspect 5 611 74 Abies -1 2 74 Betula -1 4 162 Abies 1,190 125 2 162 Betula 1,190 125 2 162 Salix 1,190 125 2

Birch/rhododendron forest, east-facing, near Sanesa village, podzolic 34 Abies (not dated) 4 profile, elevation 5 3,716 m, aspect 5 601 34 Rhododendron (not dated) 1 53 Abies (not dated) 9 53 Betula (not dated) 7 53 Salix (not dated) 1

Blue pine forest, near Phunki village, elevation 5 3,390 m, aspect 5 1361 137 Abies (not dated) 7 Fir/juniper/rhododendron forest, near Tengboche monastery, podzolic 73–84 Abies (not dated) 12 profile, elevation 5 3,643 m, aspect 5 1911

Shrub/grassland east of Thami, south-facing, podzolic profile, 25 Juniperus 4,430 210 6 elevation 5 3,800 m 35 Juniperus 3,660 40 6

Shrub/grassland above Khumjung monastery, south-facing, podzolic 40 Juniperus 5,120 40 6 profile, elevation 5 3,935 m 63 Juniperus 2,380 130 17 90 Juniperus 2,750 40 5

Shrub/grassland above Pangboche, south-facing, podzolic profile, 26 Juniperus 3,570 55 14 elevation 5 4,030 m 50 Juniperus 5,180 40 11 1Sample proved too small for reliable analysis. percent) with the exception of Pinus, noted for its ex- judging from the high percentages of herbaceous taxa and ceptional long-distance dispersal ability. At the upper fern spores. Cerealia grains occur occasionally in every levels, fern percentages decreased to less than 20 per- level, suggesting that there was [human agricultural ac- tivity] in the area, including tree cutting. The charcoal cent, and Poaceae increased. Interpretations based on fragments in the different horizons of the section indicate the laboratory analysis are shown below (Byers 1987b, that there was also burning, perhaps augmenting the her- 199): baceous vegetation for grazing. Although no absolute pol- len values can be calculated for the analyzed levels in the The palaeoenvironmental interpretation of these four pol- soil profile, there is a relative measure of pollen decrease len spectra suggests that the modern grassland is very re- between 45–50 cm [ 2,000 years BP] and 35–40 cm cent and that below 15 cm depth [date unknown, but less [1,500 year BP]. The simultaneous increase in fern spores than 1,480 years BP] a fir-birch-alder forest existed in the [indicative of an open, dry, and disturbed environment] region. This forest, however, must have been quite open, suggests that between these levels, tree cutting and burning Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 119

Figure 2. Pollen and 14C charcoal dating analysis results from a buried soil excavated at 3,908 m above Khumjung village.

had a significant impact on the density of the forest that 41 cm depth (3Bhb1). Formation of the podzol also ap- was unselective for the type of trees cut. (Markgraf 1987) pears to have occurred over a very short period (o700 years), and may reflect the moist and forested conditions Although fire is a natural phenomenon in most envi- prevalent at that time (see Birkeland 1984, 223–24, 269). ronments, its consistency of occurrence in a region pre- As mentioned above, the pollen analysis suggests that disposed to cloud forest formations (Miehe 1989), an open birch/fir/alder forest was dominant to the 15 cm unidirectional nature of forest-to-shrub/grassland succes- depth that was then abruptly replaced by a grassland sion, and identification of cereal grains in all levels of the formation. The date of the final conversion from open soil profile examined (Markgraf 2002) argue for a human- forest to shrub/grassland is not known and difficult to induced fire regime over the past several thousand years. estimate, primarily because of the absence of datable However, there is further evidence to suggest that the organic material and variability of soil development/ climate has become considerably drier during this period, deposition processes within the mountain environment. and thus more susceptible to natural fire, based on the However, based on the apparent uniformity of other number of species present in the soil profile that are podzolic profiles (and thus soil deposition processes) currently not found in the Khumbu region above alti- excavated within this region, an estimate of between tudes of approximately 3,000 m. For example, Polunin 400–800 years BP is suggested as the conversion date. and Stainton (1984) list the present-day ranges of Alnus Collectively, the data indicate that major landscape sp. at 1,000–3,000 m; Sambucus sp. at 1,500–3,700 m; modifications within the study site had been either im- Quercus sp. at 800–3,800 m, and Picea sp. at 2,100–3,600 posed by other ethnic groups (e.g., the Rai) well before m. Although only Sambucus sp. have not been recorded the Sherpa settled the valley, or that the Sherpa had in the Khumbu (Miehe 1987), all of the above plants are been frequenting the Khumbu (possibly on a nomadic quite rare today at altitudes greater than 3,000 m and basis) for longer than previously assumed. suggest a general drying trend that could have been Building on this earlier work, four additional soil accompanied by an increase in natural fire frequency and profiles were excavated and sampled from south-facing magnitude. Whether major landscape modifications over slopes near the villages of Thami (3,800 m), Khumjung the past several thousand years were the exclusive result (3,935 m), Pangboche (4,030 m), and Lobuche (4,930 of humans, natural fire, or some combination of both is, m) in May 1999. As in 1984, buried podzolic paleosols however, impossible to determine at the present time. were found throughout the south-facing hillslopes be- Regardless, the landscape that actually greeted the first tween Thami and Pangboche (near the present-day tree Sherpa settlers was probably not one of pristine, virgin line) at trail cuts, cattle wallows, slumps, and soil study wilderness, ‘‘almost entirely forested below 13,000 ft pits, indicating that they are a continuous subsurface soil [3,962 m]’’ (Naylor 1970, 30). Rather, open, disturbed feature. The Lobuche site was located in the alpine zone Abies/Betula/Alnus forests, shrub/grasslands, and juniper immediately west of the Khumbu glacier. The samples woodlands, not too different from the vegetation for- were analyzed for their pollen and charcoal content mations seen today, most likely dominated the land- (Markgraf 2001b), charcoal age (Geochron Laboratories scapes at that time. 2001), and charcoal species (Schoch 2001) in a further 14C dating results of selected charcoal fragments are attempt to establish a chronology for the environmental shown in Table 1. Corresponding to the laboratory report history of the south-facing shrub/grassland slopes. presented above are dates of 1480 360 years BP for As in the earlier analyses, results suggested that fires samples obtained at 31 cm (birch/fir/alder) depths (3Eb1 have played a major and consistent role in forest com- or buried podzol horizon), and 2170 330 years BP at the position and historical landscape change, possibly human 120 Byers induced and beginning as early as 5,000 years BP. None of transformations to the south-facing, shrub/grassland and the soil samples analyzed represent an undisturbed forest juniper/rhododendron formations seen today varied from that was free of human impacts. Instead, large amounts site to site, but generally lies somewhere between 3,000 of microscopic charcoal, Betula, fern spores, and the and 4,000 years BP for the Thami, Khumjung, and presence of Juniperus in all macroscopic wood samples Pangboche sites sampled. analyzed suggested the dominance of a continuous and Collectively, the evidence suggests that pre-Sherpa postfire successional forest stage. Although some of the ethnic groups, and most likely their cattle, could have charcoal and pollen samples in the soils experienced been frequenting and modifying the Khumbu valley on bioturbation, and hence may not be in stratigraphic se- a seasonal basis for as much as 5,000 years prior to quence (Ohlson and Tryterud 2000; Carcaillet 2001), the arrival of the Sherpa people some 500 years ago. The the ages of charcoal and their environmental implica- establishment of permanent Sherpa villages and trade tions are reliable (Markgraf 2001b). routes (L. N. Sherpa 1999, 53), and population increases In the Lobuche alpine soil profile, charcoal was mostly associated with the arrival of the potato around 1850 present in the two deeper samples, while the surface (von Fu¨rer-Haimendorf 1975), assuredly accelerated sample had very little. Pollen was represented by pri- landscape and forest structure transformation processes marily herbaceous taxa (Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Ranun- during the past 200 years (see L. N. Sherpa 1999, 53). culaceae, Polygonaceae, and Apiaceae). Some fern spores However, the results of the soils, pollen, and 14C analyses were present, and Betula, Tsuga, and Rhododendron reported here suggest that the landscapes that greeted occurred in traces. Unfortunately, these data did not these first Sherpa settlers were far from a pristine, un- allow speculation about environmental changes that disturbed wilderness. Opinions continue to differ: L. N. may have occurred in the alpine. Pollen preservation was Sherpa (1999, 71), for example, feels that the 2,000- poor, and even the microscopic charcoal found could year-old charcoal fragments analyzed in my 1984 work have originated from fires in the vegetation zones at ‘‘were probably from natural fires’’ (no supporting anal- lower altitudes and does not necessarily imply that the yses are given), and Brower (1991, 60–61) questions the alpine meadows were affected. Further work in the al- reliability of the cereal grain/pre-Sherpa agriculture in- pine, perhaps augmented through the selection of more terpretations. Both points of view, however, argue for a suitable pollen sampling sites (bogs, old lake beds, and more thorough look at the history of settlement and land moist depressions) is indicated (Markgraf 2001a). use within the Khumbu, and in the high Himalaya in In summary, the collective results suggest that the general.8 south-facing hillslopes between Thami and Pangboche have experienced postfire succession and forest compo- Contemporary Soil Loss sition changes, possibly human induced, beginning as early as 5,000 years BP—a departure from the conven- Between March and November of 1984, twenty-eight tional story of Sherpa-exclusive modifications during the soil loss study plots were installed on a stratified/random past five hundred years. At the Thami site, shrub/ basis between the vicinity of Namche Bazaar (3,440 m) grassland formations dominated shortly after 4,000 years and Dingboche (4,350 m). Detailed discussions of the BP, with Betula in a postsuccessional stage of recovery; project’s instrumentation, monitoring methods, and Khumjung hillslopes were shrub/grasslands by 2,750 data-analysis techniques are presented in Byers (1987b). years BP; and the Pangboche Abies forests had been The three major vegetation cover types sampled within burned at least 5,000 years BP with shrub/grassland and the Imja Khola valley included the south-facing shrub postfire Betula succession dominating by 3,570 years BP. grassland, north-facing forest, and alpine ecosystems. At Closed forest conditions never returned to any of the the end of the research season, comparisons of total sites, suggesting a continual disturbance process that seasonal soil loss between clusters produced surprisingly was most likely anthropogenic—that is, the clearing of low estimates of only 0–1 t/ha/season for the moist south-facing slopes by shifting cultivation and transfor- subalpine forest formations, 0–2 t/ha/season for the dry mation of closed forests into woodlands through fire and subalpine forest, 0–2 t/ha/season for the subalpine shrub preferential grazing of cattle (Miehe 1989, 27). The grassland, and unexpectedly high estimates of 20–40 t/ evidence for a general shift from moist to more arid ha/season for the disturbed alpine slopes. conditions during the past 2,000 to 5,000 years may also The two major factors contributing to the lack of soil reflect the continual opening and transformation of loss within the subalpine plots included (a) structural cloud forests (believed to be the ‘‘potential vegetation’’ hillslope integrity, and (b) increases in protective her- on both sunny and shady slopes) (Miehe 1989, 24). Final baceous groundcover prior to the monsoon rains, two Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 121 factors that had eluded previous assessments and con- grassland landscapes below 4,000 m is now generally sultant reports. One of the most conspicuous microrelief endorsed (Brower 1991; Stevens 1993). landscape features found upon most southerly aspects of In contrast, the alpine study plots near Dingboche the park is the grazing step or terracette, a cattle-formed, produced a disturbingly high seasonal soil loss linked to contoured terrace averaging 0.5 m in width and 0.8 m in primarily contemporary (thirty years1) disturbances height (see Watanabe 1994). The terracettes, seemingly that include (a) the accelerated harvesting of soil- ubiquitous between elevations of approximately 3,000 binding shrub juniper for fuelwood, primarily for tourist and 5,000 m, are connected by shorter, angular paths lodges, (b) alpine turf removal or disruption, and (c) the that traverse the near vertical risers. The risers are impacts of grazing on fragile and erodible slopes. Like- covered with thick Cotoneaster, dwarf rhododendron, wise, terracettes are poorly formed because of the coarse, and juniper shrub. Flats are partially covered by grass, nonplastic nature of the exposed soils; and the dramatic herbs, and forbs (o30 percent) for eight months of the seasonal increases in herbaceous groundcover are, year that, at most locations/elevations, can nevertheless compared to lower elevations, largely absent (Figure 2). exhibit a nearly continuous vegetative cover throughout Overland flow processes were actually observed by late the monsoon season (April–October) (Figure 3). This August, and sediment delivery was by far the highest microtopography appears to inhibit soil loss through a recorded for the project region in spite of the relatively combination of protective premonsoon herbaceous low amount of total seasonal precipitation (i.e., 326.3 cover; surface roughness imposed by the terracettes; mm average between plots, compared to the subalpine ‘‘geomorphic glue’’ represented by the shrub-covered plot average of 732.4 mm). Nevertheless, the small terracette risers; and retention of downwardly moving number of sample plots within the alpine zone suggested material (sediment to rock size) by shrubs that counters that further work was needed to more fully understand the ‘‘accelerated erosion’’ scenarios of previous assess- the underlying root causes and consequences of these, ments. The importance of seasonal herbaceous and de- and possibly other, disturbance processes. tritus groundcover to low soil loss within the forest plots was also determined by the study. Twenty years later, this remains as the only long-term soil loss study ever con- Contemporary Landscape Change: ducted in the Khumbu; but while further work is cer- The Photographic Record tainly indicated, the relative stability of forest and shrub/ Between 1955 and 1963, the Austrian cartographer/ mountaineer Erwin Schneider completed a field survey Khumjung (3,908 m) Subalpine Shrub/Grassland of the Khumbu (Mt. Everest) region that included ter- 60 restrial photogrammetry taken from numerous high- 50 altitude, trigonometrical points throughout the valley Grass/ Herb 40 Bare (Schneider 1963; Kostka 1993; Penz 1997). His work 30 Litter was a continuation of the high mountain cartography 20 and exploration of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Verglei-

Percent cover Shrub 10 Rock chende Hochgebirgsforschung (Association for Compar- 0 ative Alpine Research/Munich) and Oesterreichischer 22 April 22 June 18 Sept 20 Oct Alpenverein (Austrian Alpine Association/Innsbruck) (see Borchers 1935; Kinzl 1940, 1954; Kinzl and Schn- Dingboche (4,416 m) Alpine Shrub/Grassland 60 eider 1950; Kostka 1993, 2), originally initiated in the Cordilleras Blanca and Huayhuash of northwestern Peru 50 in 1932 (Byers 2000). In 1984, five of Schneider’s photo 40 Grass/Herb points, which provided the most complete view of the 30 Bare lower Khumbu valley (Namche Bazaar to Tengboche), Litter were relocated, and the original black-and-white pho- 20 Percent cover Shrub tographs replicated. Between October and November 10 Rock 1995, twenty-six of Schneider’s photopoints between 0 Lukla (2,743 m), Namche Bazaar (3,440 m), and the 13 May 20 June 27 Sept upper alpine region throughout the valley (5,000 m1) Figure 3. Comparative seasonal groundcover change between the were relocated, and black-and-white and color replicates subalpine and Khumjung and alpine Dingboche sites. of the original panoramas and individual landscape 122 Byers scenes were made.9 Selected scenes were again repli- over the past forty-five years (e.g., Houston’s 1950 cated in September 2004. Comparisons between the ca. photographs of Namche Bazaar; Byers’ 1973 and 1984 1955/62 (Schneider), 1984 (Byers), 1995, and 2004 photographs of the regions). Photopoint attributes (date, photographs were analyzed, which enabled an assess- time, vicinity, site number, altitude, and scene descrip- ment of landscape change processes in the Khumbu over tion) and location map are shown as Table 2 and Figure the past forty to fifty years, supplemented by the on-site 4. Selected examples are provided here in illustration of sampling of specific phenomena in question (e.g., the key phenomena that include contemporary forest cover, estimated reduction of tree or shrub cover through stem infrastructure, and geomorphic change.10 and stump counts). Back-up, color-slide landscape rep- licates were also made during the fieldwork, including Forest Cover. L. N. Sherpa (1999, 110) suggests that village and landscape scenes taken by various individuals major changes in forest structure and distribution pat-

Table2. Photopoint Attributes, 1995 Repeat Photography Expedition, Sagarmatha National Park, Khumbu, Nepal (note: sites with letter designations are not shown on the map)

Date Time Vicinity Site # Alt. (m) Scene Replication, Photographer, and Photographer Dates

10/25/95 1630 Above Lukla A 3,183 Lukla airstrip ca. 1961 (Schneider 1961) 10/26/95 0845 Above Lukla B 3,183 Lukla airstrip & panorama (clear skies); note numerous satelite dishes, electric lines, telephones (unknown). 10/26/95 1415 Salung C 2,700 Salung village, as seen from Chaplung (Schneider 1961) 10/26/95 1515 Ghat D 2,756 Ghat region (Schneider 1961); note extensive 1985 flood damage; Cherma (new village) established since 1961; note increased tree growth 10/28/95 0800 N-facing slopes E 4,146 From cairns (dividing line between Namche and Khumjung grass cutting of Tamserku region) en-route to Schneider’s ’61 photopoint, panorama of lower valley 10/28/95 1034 N-facing slopes 1 4,488 Panorama of entire Imjha valley (Schneider 1961, Byers 1984) of Tamserku 10/29/95 0746 Tamserku camp 2 3,884 S-facing slopes of Imjha Khola (Namche, Kunde/Khumjung, Phortse, Everest)(Byers 1984) 10/30/95 0915 Namche Bazaar 3 3,440 Namche village and vicinity: Houston (1950) and Byers (1973, 1984) 10/31/95 0913 Ridge west of Kunde 4, 5 4,028 Thami valley (note 1985 flood damage), Kunde and Khumjung villages (Schneider ’62) 11/1/95 0937 Khumjung 7 4,443 Phortse, Tengboche, and Tamserku slopes as seen from S-facing slopes NE of Kunde (Schneider 1961; Byers 1984) 11/2/95 0920 Kunde 6 3,983 Kunde village, looking south from exclosure (Byers 1984) 11/2/95 1011 Sanesa 8, 9 3,755 Phortse; Tengboche terminal moraine as seen from Sanesa (Byers 1984) 11/3/95 0910 Tengboche 11 4,550 Upper Imja Khola valley panorama (Everest, Ama Dablam, Tengboche, Namche) (Schneider 1961, Byers 1984) 11/3/95 1000 Tengboche 10 3,880 Tengboche monastery (Schneider 1961, Byers 1984) 11/4/95 1032 Pangboche 12 3,866 Lower Omoga and Yaral fields as seen from SW of Pangboche (Byers 1984) 11/4/95 1100 Pangboche 13 4,019 Pangboche village and gompa (Byers 1973) 11/5/95 0900 Dingboche 15, 16 4,680 Dingboche valley panorama (Schneider 1961) 11/5/95 1100 Dingboche 14 4,400 Lateral moraine west of Dingboche (Schneider 1961) 11/6/95 0815 to 1030 Tsholo Tsho 17 4,600 Tsholo Tsho (lake) and vicinity (Schneider 1961) (Dzonglha) 28 4,900 19 4,660 11/7/95 0946 to 1100 Below Pokhalde peak 20 Pheriche valley & Taboche from 5,638 m and cairns at 5,500 m, presumably left by Schneider and party 21 5,000 5,638 11/8/95 0933 Below Taboche peak 22 5,140 Pheriche valley from slopes of Taboche (Schneider 1961) 11/9/95 1013 Mingbo 23 4,320 Pangboche, Ama Dablam, and upper 24 4,709 Imja valley as seen from ridge SWof Nare Drangka (Schneider 1961); day 1 of severe snowstorm 11/13/95 0920 Thame F 4,085 Thame and vicinity (snow covered) Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 123

Figure 4. Erwin Schneider’s ca. 1955–61 photopoints relocated during the 1995 repeat photography study. terns may have commenced about three centuries ago in Not documented in 1984, however, but readily ob- the Nangpa valley (west of Namche Bazaar) as a result of servable in the more extensive 1995 photographic increased human and livestock numbers. However, pho- analysis, was the fact that forest cover has actually in- tographic comparisons suggest that forest cover within creased throughout the region. In particular, significant this region and throughout the park has remained es- tree growth in the vicinity of Namche Bazaar (Figures 6 sentially unchanged since the 1950s. The initial work and 7),11 as well as other villages, has occurred as a completed in 1984 included comparative photographs of result of successful plantation efforts beginning in the Namche Bazaar, Kunde/Khumjung, and Phortse/Teng- early 1980s. Observations made during the course of boche, concluding that ‘‘the photographic evidence does the 1995, 1999, and 2001 fieldwork suggest that active, not support the hypothesis of widespread deforesta- natural forest regeneration is also occurring along the tion, nor the assumed linkages between tree removal, Dudh Kosi between Lukla and Namche Bazaar, in grazing, and geomorphic damage within the specific the Kunde/Khumjung region, and upon the south- geographic areas under discussion’’ (Byers 1987a). Re- facing aspects of the Tengboche terminal moraine (Fig- sults from the 1984 soil loss study plots, forest/shrub ures 8 and 9). Also noted was a distinct increase in grassland plots, and ground truth sampling following wildlife sign and sightings within the valley, an obser- the photography provided further support to this vation later endorsed by wildlife specialists (Kattel 1995) statement. and park experts with many years of wildlife experience 124 Byers

Figure 5. Transects in the upper Imja Khola region conducted during the 2001 alpine impacts study (base map: National Geographic Society 1988). in the region (L. N. Sherpa 1995). Both specialists, and Banzhaf 2002), located conveniently between daily however, noted that the increased populations of certain destinations (e.g., Namche and Tengboche), or exhibit- species (notably Himalayan tahr) were resulting in ing economically ‘‘progressive’’ attitudes toward growth growing problems of crop depredation throughout the and tourism (Brower 1991). The villages of Kunde and Khumbu region. Interestingly, snow leopard sightings Khumjung increased in size by approximately 50 percent appear to be on the rise as of the past year (A. R. Sherpa between 1962 and 1995, an increase largely attributed to 2004b). population growth (Stevens 1997a) (Figures 10 and 11), and these growth trends appeared to be continuing in Infrastructure. Mentioned in the 1984 fieldwork, but 2004. Changes in traditional building materials are also clearly obvious in the more recent comparative photo- obvious, especially the replacement of Abies wood shin- graphs, is the significant infrastructure growth that has gles with corrugated sheet metal within the larger vil- occurred in the Khumbu during the past twenty years. lages (Figures 12 and 13). This is particularly evident within those villages situated While local forests do not appear to have been as ad- along the main tourist/expedition trails and intersections versely impacted by tourism as previously thought, sub- (e.g., Namche) (see Nepal 2000, 783–85; Nepal, Kohler, stantial forest degradation outside of the park, particularly Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 125

Figure 7. Mendaphu hill in October 1995. Note the new native Figure 6. Mendaphu hill (background), location of the Sagarmatha pine trees that had been planted by park authorities in the interim. National Park Headquarters, in March 1985 (photograph by A. Most of these trees had been thinned or cut by the military when Byers). observed again in September 2004, as a precaution against possible Maoist attacks (photograph by A. Byers). in the Pharak region, has been reported and directly inent landscape feature for centuries. Similar conclu- linked to the fuelwood and structural timber demands of sions may be drawn from the 1995 photographic work, as increased tourist and village growth (Stevens 1993; Nepal little change in the geomorphic features noted in 1984 2000). In response, the 2004 management plan for the (torrents, landslides, gullies) can be ascertained from the Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone, currently photographic comparisons. being developed, will include the Pharak, Phakding, and The Khumbu is nevertheless an exceptionally dy- Lukla regions as part of the park’s buffer zone in order to namic environment, and in recent years, destructive fund and implement remedial resource, community, and outbursts of medium to large glacial lakes (also called conservation subprojects (L. N. Sherpa 2004). jo¨kulhlaup, Icelandic for glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF)) have occurred in the Nare Drangka south of Geomorphology. One of the results of my 1984 field Ama Dablam in 1956 (Mu¨ller 1959) and 1977 (Bu- work was to further dispel popular assumptions concern- chroithner, Jentsch, and Wanivenhaus 1982), and within ing land-use practices and resultant landscape phenom- the Langmoche valley (tributary of the Bhote Kosi) in ena, such as the ‘‘growing gully’’ (torrent) between 1985 (Vuichard and Zimmermann 1986; Mool, Bajra- Khumjung and Kunde villages (Figures 10 and 11). Al- charya, and Joshi 2001). Zimmermann, Bichsel, and though its creation was popularly linked with accelerated Kienholz (1986), citing Brower (personal communica- forest loss and overgrazing (e.g., Lucas, Hardie, and tion), suggest that as many as five similar flood events Hodder 1974), the torrent has most likely been a prom- may have occurred in the region between 1940 and 126 Byers

Figure 8. Tengboche terminal moraine, location of the Tengboche monastery, in 1961 (photograph by E. Schneider).

Figure 9. The village of Phortse (left) and the Tengboche terminal moraine in 1995 (photograph by A. Byers). Note the apparent increase in forest cover, most likely related to the forest’s protection by the Tengboche monastery. 1954 photographs of Pangboche, the next village upstream from Tengboche, were replicated in September 2004 and showed similar increases in tree cover during the interim. Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 127

Figure 10. Kunde and Khumjung villages in 1961 (photograph by E. Schneider).

1980. The formation of new glacial lakes continues to [has] . . . resulted in seasonally exposed soils and surf- be a topic of concern and study (Watanabe, Ives, and icially dynamic hillslopes in certain alpine areas’’ (Byers Hammond 1994; Watanabe, Kameyama, and Sato 1987b, 245–47). As mentioned above, the Dingboche 1995). The tremendous damage inflicted by the La- study plots produced the highest soil loss (20–40 t/ha/ ngmoche flash flood of 1985 (Vuichard and Zimmer- season) within the entire project region. In 1984, the mann 1986), which deeply scoured the channels of the erosive south-facing slopes of Dingboche were linked to Bhote and Imja rivers located within the park, was ap- the harvesting of juniper shrub species for fuelwood parent on a number of the photographic replicates taken. (apparently, for high-altitude tourist lodges) and mining Other features of note include the apparent recession of of alpine turf for lodge and wall construction, processes the Ama Dablam glacier, and the effects of a 1990 tor- that appeared to be exacerbated by the seasonal pres- rent in the vicinity of Pangboche (3,985 m) that killed ence of livestock. Although some of these processes have five people. been ongoing for at least several hundred years (Byers 1987b; Brower 1991), my 1995 replication of landscape Alpine Degradation photographs from the 1961 Austrian photogrammetric expeditions clearly suggested an approximately 40 to 50 Prior to August–September 2001, Dingboche (4,412 percent loss of shrub juniper groundcover on the Din- m) was the only known alpine site in the upper Khumbu gboche hillslopes during the thirty-three-year interval to have undergone a quantitative study of slope proc- in question (Byers 1997; Figures 14, 15, and 16).12 The esses, vegetation, and landscape change (Byers 1987b, 1995 study confirmed the existence and apparent ac- 1997). Within the Khumbu, I had concluded that ‘‘a celeration of contemporary anthropogenic impacts presently unknown combination of historical, natural on the Dingboche alpine zone that previously had (freeze-thaw, turf exfoliation) and anthropogenic (shrub been challenged by other scholars (e.g., Brower 1991, and turf removal, grazing) factors, exacerbated by a 177–79). Nevertheless, the small number of alpine soil colder and comparatively less resilient environment . . . loss plots, site-specific variability characteristic to the 128 Byers

Figure 11. Kunde and Khumjung villages in 1995 (photograph by A. Byers). The photograph was replicated in September 2004 and showed that significant village growth had again occurred in the interim, most likely related to the continued profits generated from tourism.

Khumbu alpine zone (Stevens 1993, 405), and com- with a Garmin Summit GPS. Informal, semistructured, plexity of cultural and historical factors (Brower 1991, key-informant interviews were conducted with twenty- 178) suggested that more extensive work was needed. five participants, including lodge owners, yak herders, The alpine-specific fieldwork that followed was con- and park personnel, that attempted to isolate key per- ducted between 4 August and 8 September 2001 and ceived alpine landscape changes during the past twenty focused on the upper Imja Khola and Gokyo valleys years (if any), their causes, and recommended remedial (Figure 5). Twenty-five line transects were completed solutions. between the altitudes of 4,200 m and 5,300 m that in- Within the study region (the upper Imja and Gokyo cluded the Ama Dablam base camp (4,600 m), Dingb- valleys combined), the average plot sampled showed a 29 oche (4,400 m), Chhukung (4,730 m), Island Peak base percent shrub,13 34 percent herbaceous, 2 percent de- camp (4,850 m), Pheriche (4,243 m), Tsolo Og (4,665 tritus, 22 percent bare ground, and 14 percent rock m), Lobuche (4,930 m), and Kala Patar (5,420 m) within cover (Table 4). The upper Imja valley appears to more the Imja Khola valley; and Dragnag (4,690 m), Gokyo highly disturbed than the Gokyo valley, showing near- (4,750 m), Maccherma (4,410 m), and Luza (4,400 m) ly twice the average bare ground per plot (24 percent within the Gokyo valley. A total of 225 sampling plots for Imja, 13 percent for Gokyo). Conversely, Gokyo (25 m2 each) were established at 100 m altitudinal in- plots showed an average 46 percent herbaceous cover tervals (three plots per stratification) along the ascend- compared with 31 percent for the Imja. The high ing transect line. Each stratification also included one bare-ground averages for both valleys are of particular 400 m2 quadrat for detailed plant inventories (total of concern, since the sampling occurred during the peak seventy-five quadrats). Data for forty variables were of the monsoon season when a nearly continuous and collected from each 25 m2 plot that included ground- protective herbaceous groundcover would be expected. cover percentages for shrub juniper, bare ground, herb, Seventy-seven percent of all plots sampled contained rock, detritus, number of live juniper stems, cut juniper shrub juniper (Juniperus indica), covering an average 19 stems, presence and condition of cattle terracettes, and percent of the plots in the Imja and 21 percent in the other attributes (Table 3). Plot positions were recorded Gokyo valleys. The average juniper stem diameter was Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 129

Figure 12. Namche Bazaar in 1973 (photograph by A. Byers).

2.9 cm,14 the average height 27.4 cm, and the average flats adjacent to the seasonal villages were found to be number of stems per plot was 29. Fuelwood samples the primary turf-mining regions and the source of ma- collected at Pheriche (4,243 m) showed ages of eighty terials used for wall construction, floors (inside tourist years at 3.2 cm diameter; 106 years at 4.5 cm diameter; lodges), and lodge patios. and 117 years at 5.5 cm diameter. A recently harvested Correlation and regression analyses revealed addi- stump at 5,200 m above the seasonal village of Chukkung tional insights of interest. Cut juniper stems, for exam- (4,730 m) showed an age of 157 years at 5.5 cm diameter ple, when correlated with altitude, slope, aspect, bare (Columbia Tree Ring Laboratory 2001). Of those plots ground, distance from villages, and other factors, containing shrub juniper, an average of 35 percent had produced R2 values that explained little in terms of been cut for both the Imja and Gokyo valleys, an ex- prospective cause/effect relationships. This is most likely tremely high figure for these fragile landscapes. Addi- related to the fact that shrub juniper was found to have tionally, only eight seedlings were found within all of been harvested at nearly every site sampled, regardless of the 225 plots sampled, which suggests a serious lack of altitude or distance from village, and reflects the highly species regeneration. disturbed state of the shrub in general. Thirty-four percent of all plots sampled contained Table 4 disaggregates the Imja Khola data further into cattle terracettes with an average, visually estimated south- or west-facing vs. north- or east-facing aspects. ‘‘cattle impact’’ rating of ‘‘medium’’ based on the pres- North- or east-facing aspects tend to be moister, cooler, ence of tracks, dislodged turf, and compacted soils. Mass and better protected by a dense cover of shrub rhodo- wasting processes (accelerated downslope displacement dendron than the south- or west-facing slopes (e.g., 69 of soil, rocks, and organics) were present in most plots percent shrub cover compared to 27 percent for Imja and sampled but with a ‘‘low’’ to ‘‘medium’’ cover rank. Little 26 percent for Gokyo). Comparative values for bare evidence of recent turf mining was found on the hill- ground, cattle impacts, mass wasting, and overland flow slopes sampled, with the exception of isolated cases near are correspondingly lower. The fact that terracettes Pheriche, Dingboche, and Bibre. In fact, river terrace cover a larger average surficial area of the north- or east- 130 Byers

Figure 13. Namche Bazaar in 1995 (photograph by A. Byers). This photograph was replicated in September 2004 and showed that even greater village expansion and lodge development had occurred in the interim. facing slopes (55 percent, compared to 29 percent for twenty to thirty years ago. In the vicinity of Pheriche, Imja and 42 percent for Gokyo) suggest that they are medium to high values can be seen that decrease with also more resilient than the drier south- or west-facing altitude, the latter attribute being generally true for all of slopes. the transects. Clusters of extremely high values can be Viewing the data from a spatial perspective produced seen at Dugla (4,620 m), Chukung (4,730 m), and Kala useful results. Data from each of the three, 25 m2 plots Pattar south-facing slopes (5,200 m) that local people within each altitudinal stratification were first averaged referred to as ‘‘growing glacial moraines,’’ or develop- to obtain a mean value. Disturbance percentages and ment of bare, eroded hillslopes that they linked with the impact ranks were then assigned (e.g., 0–5 percent accelerated harvesting of the cushion plant Arenaria for 5 low, 6–10 percent 5 medium, 11–25 percent 5 high, fuel,15 associated turf disruption, and secondary distur- 25–50 percent 5 extremely high), individual points color bance by cattle during recent decades. Crossing the Cho coded, and all points plotted on GIS (ArcView GIS La (5,420 m) into the Gokyo valley to the west, high version 3.0a). The result is a series of maps of averaged values were also clustered at Dragnag (4,690 m) and plot attributes where patterns can be visually discerned Gokyo Peak region (4,850 m), although the Gokyo valley for each of the twenty-nine variables assessed, and plot- in general is less disturbed for most variables than the ted on a preliminary ‘‘alpine impacts map’’ (Figure 17). upper Imja Khola. Several patterns of interest include the extreme- These patterns also were reflected in the mass wast- ly high (26–45 percent) bare ground values found ing, overland flow, terracette cover, and percent rock throughout the Dingboche valley, the seasonal settle- cover categories plotted for the entire study region. ment of Chukung, and south-facing slopes of Dugla, Evidence of recent burning clustered at Dingboche, where all informants interviewed linked both shrub jun- Chukung, and Dugla but was comparatively low at all iper harvesting and hillslope degradation with moun- other locations. Cattle impacts were high throughout taineering, lodges, and tourism increases beginning some both valleys, but tended to decrease with altitude. Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 131

Figure 14. Alpine slopes above Dingboche in 1961 (photograph by E. Schneider).

Cut juniper stems were high at all locations with iso- and yak herder camps as of September 2001 (Figure 18). lated clusters of extremely high values at Dingboche, Of particular concern was the depletion of Arenaria sp., Chukung, Pheriche, Dugla, Ama Dablam basecamp, and associated evidence of an increase in bare, degraded Dragnag, and Gokyo Peak. Herb cover tended to in- hillslopes in the vicinity of Chukung and Dugla villages. crease, and shrub cover decrease, with altitude, which Local informants stated that national park authorities may reflect both natural as well as anthropogenic influ- traditionally have had little interest in the management ences (i.e., shrub populations decline naturally with al- or protection of alpine vegetation, although officially titude, as do human and cattle impacts on herbaceous protected, since the shrubs and cushion plants are not groundcover). considered to be ‘‘trees’’ and are therefore of little im- In summary, soil and vegetation disturbance portance. As mentioned previously, new lodges continue throughout the Imja and Gokyo alpine valleys was found to be constructed in practically every seasonal alpine to be far worse than previously expected. To date, the village within the Imja and Gokyo valleys; tourism has international media has focused primarily on ‘‘garbage already rebounded from its dramatic decline after 11 trail’’ issues and clean-up expeditions (e.g., McConnell September 2001; and the degradation of the Khumbu 1991; B. Bishop and Naumann 1996; SPCC 1999), alpine zone will continue unless measures are taken to laudable but cosmetic initiatives that neglect the critical mitigate the various processes involved. linkages between alpine ecology, highland/lowland in- teractions, and sustainable local economies (e.g., agri- Discussion culture, yak herding, and tourism). Most disturbance can be linked to the exponential growth in mountaineering The collective results of five separate field expeditions and adventure tourism during the past two decades, to the Khumbu region suggest that, in spite of a copious combined with the entrepreneurial drive of Sherpa lodge literature stating otherwise, most subalpine shrub/grass- owners that has not been matched with a concurrent land and forest landscapes below 4,000 m are surficially concern for the environment—e.g., stacks of shrub ju- stable and that the extent of subalpine forest remains niper continued to be a common site near most lodges essentially unchanged from the 1950s. In contrast, much 132 Byers

Figure 15. Slopes above Dingboche in 1995 (photograph by A. Byers). Note the apparent loss of shrub juniper cover in the interim, a process later verified during the 2001 field study.

Figure 16. Eroded hillslopes above Dingboche village in 1984 (photograph by A. Byers). Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 133

Table3. Average values per 25 m2 plot, August-September 2001

Imja Khola (n 5 183) Gokyo (n 5 42)

Variable Unit range mean range mean

Topography Longitude degrees E 86.78–86.88 86.83 86.69–86.72 86.71 Latitude degrees N 27.86–27.98 27.91 27.90–27.95 27.91 Altitude m 4200–5300 4606 4430–4870 4570 Aspect degrees 43–321 179 58–267 178 Slope % 5–84 51 45–192 70 Altitude above trail m 9–643 172 40–460 169 Distance from lodges km 1–9 2.9 1–3 1.7 Ground cover Shrub1 % 0–100 29 0–65 29 Herbaceous % 0–95 31 10–85 46 Detritus % 0–8 2 0–5 1 Bare ground % 0–75 24 5–40 13 Rock % 0–70 15 0–30 11 Species cover Juniper % 0–90 19 0–65 21 Rhododendron % 0–80 6 0–35 2 Berberis % 0–60 0.9 0–15 0.4 Arenaria % 0–15 0.3 0 0 Juniper growth Live juniper stems number 0–60 13 0–41 13 Juniper height cm 0–76 27 0–70 28 Juniper stem diameter cm 0–10 3 0–6 3 # juniper seedlings number 0–5 0.1 0–8 0.6 Disturbance Burning rank (0–3)2 0–3 0 0 0 Cattle disturbance rank (0–3) 0–3 2 0–3 2.5 Cut juniper stems % 0–88 32 0–100 35 Dug juniper roots % 0–100 4 0–11 1 Dug arenaria plants % 0–60 2 0 0 Mass wasting rank (0–3) 0–3 2 0–3 1 Overland flow/sed.splays rank (0–3) 0–3 1 0–3 0.5 Terracette cover % 0–95 31 4–80 46 # terracettes number 0–8 3 2–10 4 Turf exfol./freeze-thaw rank (0–3) 0–3 0.2 0 0 Turf harvesting rank (0–3) 0–3 0.1 0 0 Notes: 1. Average percent shrub cover includes the sum of all woody shrubs found in the plot (Juniper, Potentilla, Rhododendron, and others). 2. 0 5 no evidence, 1 5 low, 2 5 medium, 3 5 high. ‘‘Cattle Impacts’’ were ranked on the presence of tracks, terracettes, and manure within a plot; ‘‘Mass Wasting’’ on the basis of displaced material; and ‘‘Overland Flow’’ on the basis of debris splays and fluvially displaced material. of the upper Imja Khola alpine zone above 4,000 m is nevertheless rank as high or higher than those reported highly disturbed, particularly those regions that have for the lower elevations. Based on these research results, experienced heavy tourist traffic during the past twenty- I link the bulk of contemporary landscape disturbance in five years, and possibly longer. the alpine to the recent and significant growth of un- The isolation of the Everest alpine zone as a highly regulated ‘‘adventure tourism,’’ where the alpine zone is impacted ecosystem has been the result of repeated field either a destination in itself (e.g., by trekking groups) or investigations that demonstrate the value of integrated, passed through en route to the higher base camps (by applied research to the clarification of process and climbing expeditions; see Stevens 2003). This position threats in the mountain environment. The impacts over challenges popular, conventional, and sometimes donor- the past thirty years have been slow and insidious, but driven hypotheses stating that ‘‘[increased] income 134 Byers

Table 4. Selected variables disaggregated by aspect Ground cover Disturbance

Bare Cut/dug Cattle Mass Number of Average Shrub Herbaceous ground Terracette juniper impacts Wasting Overland 5 5 plots elevation (m) % cover % cover % cover % cover % rank (0–3) rank (0–3) rank (0–3) Imja Khola (south or west-facing) Ama Dablam BC 6 4582 22.5 11.6 38.3 17.5 66.8 2.2 2.5 1.8 Osho 3 4200 25.8 49.2 18.3 28.3 21.0 1.6 0.3 0.3 Pheriche trail 6 4538 24.3 39.0 18.5 38.5 30.4 2.1 1.2 0.8 Phulung 21 4545 27.0 48.0 8.5 17.0 30.5 1.8 0.7 0.5 Dugla 36 4587 33.4 28.6 23.4 22.8 23.7 2.0 1.6 1.0 Gorak Shep 3 5300 0.0 33.3 43.3 0.0 0.0 1.0 2.6 2.0 Dingboche 33 4434 25.5 12.0 37.3 50.0 42.9 2.7 2.6 2.2 Bibre 15 4856 12.9 61.4 15.6 17.6 49.2 1.3 0.7 0.9 Chukung 24 4904 35.0 21.6 28.8 28.0 37.4 2.5 2.0 1.5 Average: 27.2 30.1 25.2 28.5 35.3 2.1 1.7 1.3 Imja Khola (north or east-facing) Ding N-facing 3 4407 66.7 7.5 7.5 40.0 0.0 2.0 0.7 0.3 Nawogla E-facing 6 4397 69.6 2.5 13.8 62.5 0.0 1.8 0.8 0.3 Average: 68.6 4.2 11.7 55.0 0.0 1.9 0.8 0.3 Gokyo valley (south or west-facing) Tare/Dragnag 3 4606 33.0 31.0 20.0 75.0 70.0 3.0 2.3 1.0 Gokyo Peak 6 4835 9.5 34.0 18.2 28.8 42.3 1.7 1.3 0.5 Macherma 9 4542 34.0 43.0 11.9 50.3 31.8 2.7 0.6 0.3 Pangka 3 4540 35.0 18.0 31.0 48.3 27.0 3.0 2.6 2.3 Luza 12 4478 24.5 58.0 7.0 31.6 21.4 1.8 0.3 0.0 Average: 26.1 43.5 13.7 41.7 33.0 2.2 0.9 0.5 Note: shrub and disturbed juniper values were not included for Gorak Shep because this was all grassland. generation from small-scale commercial resource-based Alirol 1979; Bjo¨nness 1980; T. Cox 1985; N. Bishop enterprises will lead to conservation success’’ (Margoluis 1989; Brower 1991; Stevens 1993), the impacts of tra- and Salafsky 1998, 107; Nepal, Kohler, and Banzhafal ditional yak herders on the Khumbu alpine ecosystem, 2002). Rather, the evidence suggests that the significant specifically in terms of fuelwood requirements and other economic benefits enjoyed in recent years by many processes, are not well documented and are in need of Sherpa people, lodge owners, and trekking/mountain- further study. Likewise, tourist packstock (yak/cattle eering companies utilizing the alpine zone have not been crossbreed) numbers continue to increase with each year matched by concurrent levels of high-altitude land and are likely responsible for a corridor of trail, hillslope, stewardship. The relative contributions of disaggregated infrastructure, and ecosystem impacts that some con- ‘‘impact groups’’ (lodges, porters, yak herders, packstock, sider to be far greater than those imposed by porters expeditions) have yet to be determined. Lodge owners (e.g., grass to feed the packstock must be imported from and mountaineering expeditions, however, have perhaps the lower altitudes during the tourist season instead of been responsible for the bulk of juniper shrub and being purchased locally as in previous decades, and Arenaria harvesting during the past twenty years, judging profits from the sale of grass now exceeds those of selling from the many cords of cut juniper observed near lodge potatoes16 (A. R. Sherpa 2004b). kitchens during this time period (see also Stevens 2003) Similar alpine degradation scenarios have been doc- and other anecdotal evidence (Reinhard 2001). Porters, umented anecdotally elsewhere in the vicinity of the left to fend for themselves at the end of the days’ trek, Everest massif, such as the Makalu basecamp to the east are said to be responsible for a large, but unseen, pro- (A. R. Sherpa and Lama 1991; Byers and Banskota portion of this juniper and dwarf rhododendron denu- 1992; Carpenter 1993; J. H. Cox 1999). In the Mera dation used for cooking purposes and in order to stay Peak region southeast of the park, a popular trekking and warm at night in whatever shelters they can find. In spite climbing destination since the mid 1990s, J. H. Cox of a sound knowledge of grazing systems (March 1977; (1999) reports that since 1996, ‘‘the dwarf juniper [has Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 135

Figure 17. Disturbed alpine areas within the Imja and Gokyo valleys, based on the results of the 2001 impacts study. been] devastated by trekking groups and local lodges. At literature and media, partly a result of the research ef- each lodge huge piles of firewood are burned in the forts and findings reported here (see Klatzel and Byers stove, [and] porters can be seen out daily chopping away 2001; Nepal, Kohler, and Banzhaf 2002, 44; Chepesiuk at the juniper.’’ A similar scenario on the north (Chi- 2003; Deegan 2003; NGS 2003; Stevens 2003, 274). On nese) side of Mt. Everest is reportedly taking place 28 May 2003, during the celebrations of the fiftieth (Taylor-Ide 2002, personal communication), and recent anniversary of the climbing of Mt. Everest, the American shifts in trekker and mountaineering traffic from the Alpine Club announced its financial support for a Nepal to the Chinese side could exacerbate the problem. ‘‘community-based alpine conservation and restoration Fortunately, the problems of the Khumbu alpine zone project’’ in the Khumbu (UIAA 2003; AAC 2004) that recently received increased acknowledgement in the was subsequently matched by grants from the National Geographic Society’s Conservation Trust (NGS 2004) and private donations. The project, implemented by The Mountain Institute’s Research and Education Program, is based on the recommendations of local people inter- viewed during the course of the 2001 field work and other long-term studies (e.g., Brower 1991; Stevens 1993, 2003) that identified a desire for participatory approaches, partnerships with local NGOs, project management training opportunities, and development of educational materials targeted to lodge owner, trekking agencies, national park visitors, and local schools. An Alpine Conservation Council, the first of its kind in Nepal, was formed by local people in May 2004 (A. R. Sherpa 2003, 2004a) that has since banned the use of juniper for fuelwood, incense, and as cover for potato Shrub juniper stacked outside of a lodge in Pheriche, Figure 18. pits and barley harvests, an estimated savings of 2,000 August 2001 (photograph by A. Byers). The harvesting of all shrub juniper for fuel, agricultural, and incense used was banned by the doko baskets of wood per year, or approximately 70,000 Alpine Conservation Council in May 2004, and all lodges now use kg. Between May and August 2004, the council reno- kerosene and yak dung for cooking and heating purposes. vated a porter lodge in Lobuche with blankets, stoves, 136 Byers and sleeping space for forty porters; established a kero- a model of locally driven alpine conservation and res- sene depot in Dingboche with ten thousand liters of toration that is founded on reliable information, contains kerosene and one hundred stoves for rent to trekking mechanisms for monitoring both social and biophysical groups; and published visitor information and environ- change, and includes applications to high altitude eco- mental brochures (Figure 19). Activities planned for the systems elsewhere in the mountain world. next five years will include the continued training and capacity building of local people, development of edu- cational materials, alternative energy trials, and pilot Conclusion projects designed to protect and restore alpine ecosys- tems throughout the Sagarmatha National Park, such as Five separate research expeditions to the Sagarmatha the cattle-proof restoration enclosures above Namche National Park between 1984 and 2001 allowed my as- Bazaar. The project is scheduled for replication in the sistants and me to develop a clearer understanding of Huascara´n National Park, Peru in 2005, based on the re- historical and contemporary landscape change processes sults of a similar alpine impacts investigation the Ishinca and impacts within the region. Historically, people, cat- and Pisco valleys during August and September 2002 tle, and fire may have been modifying the Khumbu well (Byers forthcoming), and awareness for the importance before the arrival of the first Sherpa immigrants some of alpine ecosystems worldwide and their protection five hundred years ago. Earlier research results suggest- appears to be increasing in general (e.g., Mullen 2004). ing a relative surficial and vegetative stability of sub- Ultimately, the Khumbu alpine project hopes to develop alpine forests and landscapes within the park below 4,000 m in elevation were endorsed. Conversely, sub- sequent fieldwork documented the existence of exten- sive, contemporary anthropogenic disturbance within alpine landscapes above 4,000 m. These impacts include the overharvesting of fragile alpine shrubs and plants for fuel, corridors of overgrazing, accelerated erosion, and uncontrolled lodge building, processes that, although insidious, continue to threaten the viability of the high altitude Khumbu ecosystems. Most of the impacts are linked to the exponential growth of unregulated ad- venture tourism during the past twenty years or more, and anecdotal evidence suggests that similar processes are occurring elsewhere around the Everest massif. The alpine zone in general is highlighted as a comparatively neglected landscape that is in need of greater protection, conservation, and restoration. Likewise, the study has demonstrated the value of integrated, applied research to the clarification of process and threats in the moun- tain environment, which in turn can facilitate the design and implementation of practical remedial projects. In this case, the collective results of my repeated field in- vestigations, backed by the thoroughness and high quality of information generated by geographers for the Khumbu during the past twenty years, led to the recent funding and ongoing implementation of the first alpine conservation and restoration project to be launched in the Everest region. More research is needed, however, that isolates the relative impacts of different user groups (lodges, expeditions, porters, packstock) on the fragile alpine environments of Khumbu and elsewhere, on the development of community-based management systems Figure 19. The Alpine Conservation Committee formed in May that can address these impacts, and on the ways that 2004 (photograph by A. Byers). adventure tourism can indeed make lasting contribu- Contemporary Human Impacts on Alpine Ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal 137 tions to the livelihoods and environments of high valley; Vishnu-Mittre, Gupta, and Robert (1967) for Ku- mountain regions. maon; and Higuchi (1984) for the Langtang valley. 9. Excellent fall weather conditions were encountered during most of the three-week period, with the exception of the Acknowledgements catastrophic snowstorm of 9–11 November, which occurred near the conclusion of the expedition (see Newsweek In- The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the ternational, 27 November 1995, 17–18). 10. See Nu¨sser 2000 for a similar approach to assessing United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan; the National landscape change in the Nanga Parbat region, northern Geographic Society, Committee for Research and Ex- Pakistan, including an effective use of thematic graphics ploration and Conservation Trust divisions, Washington, illustrating the changes found. D.C.; the EvK2CNR Project, Bergamo, Italy and 11. Unfortunately, most of the trees on Mendephu hill, as shown in the 1995 photographs, were either thinned or cut Lobuche, Nepal; the American Alpine Club, Golden, down during 2001–2002 by the military, reportedly as a Colorado; The Mountain Institute, Washington, D.C. precaution against possible Maoist attacks. and Kathmandu, Nepal; the Banff Centre for Mountain 12. The replicate photographs were taken during the same Culture, Banff, Canada; and the Department of National season (October) as the originals, as per Schneider’s Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu, Nepal, guidelines (see Schneider 1963, 188). 13. The sum of shrub Juniperus sp., Potentilla sp., dwarf Rhodo- during the various field and analysis phases of the dendron sp., Rosa sp., Berberis sp., Lonicera sp., Cassiope sp., project. Ephedra sp., Spirea sp., Artemisia sp., and Cotoneaster sp. cover measured within a plot. 14. Measured 20 cm from stem contact with the ground. Notes 15. Nearly 100 percent of the fragile Arenaria has been mined and burned for fuel over the past twenty years in the Kala 1. ‘‘Historical’’ is defined broadly here as that branch of Pattar (the last lodges before the Everest base camp) and knowledge concerned with past events, especially those other nearby regions, processes that are now moving down- involving human affairs, such as the historic settlement of valley toward Lobuche because of depletion at the higher the Khumbu valley over the past several thousand years. elevations. ‘‘Contemporary’’ refers to events belonging to the same age 16. Because of similar environmental concerns, the daily burn- and, in this case, contains an emphasis on those occurring ing of juniper branches as religious offerings, and for use during the past fifty years. as flagpoles, was banned by Khumjung residents around 2. See Byers (1987b), Brower (1991), and Stevens (1993) for 2001 (A. R. Sherpa 2001). Other perceived environmental more detailed summaries and bibliographic reviews of the changes during the past twenty years included an increase Khumbu geology, geomorphology, and landscapes. in Kunde/Khumjung forest cover and an abundance of 3. The 1999 Everest GPS Expedition led by Brad Washburn mushrooms linked to greater moisture retention. determined a new height for Mt. Everest of 29,0350 (8,850 m), seven feet higher than the 29,0280 figure used for the past forty years. 4. See Byers (1987b, 50–66) for a detailed description of References vegetation formations within the Sagarmatha National Park. 5. Detailed reviews and critiques of the Khumbu ‘‘crisis sce- AAC (American Alpine Club). 2004. Khumbu reforestation narios’’ are contained in Byers (1987b, 74–80), Brower project launched. The American Alpine News 11 (244, Win- (1991, 5–8), and Stevens (1993, 295–315; 1997, 63–97). ter). 6. This correlation, however, had been challenged by Brower Alirol, P. 1979. Transhumant animal husbandry systems in the as early as 1983. See Brower (1983, 6–7). Kalinchowk region (Central Nepal): A comprehensive study of 7. Stevens (1993, 279) feels that the origins of the name have animal husbandry on the southern slopes of the Himalayas. been lost, although he notes that some Sherpas suggest that Berne: Weiss Association for Technical Assistance. Nauje could be derived from the phrase nating uk che,or Andrews, C. 1983. Photographs and notes on tourism and de- ‘‘big forested corner.’’ forestation in the Solu Khumbu, Nepal. Mountain Research 8. Similar pollen and 14C studies documenting environmental and Development 3 (2): 182–85. change in the Himalaya are rare. Caine et al. (1982) ref- Barry, R. G., and R. J. Chorley. 1982. Atmosphere, weather and erence the following concerned with Holocene environ- climate. New York: Metheun & Co. mental changes in the higher Himalaya: (a) Fort (1979) for Bernbaum, E. 1980. The way to Shambala: A search for the myth- the Buri Gandaki, Nepal, and (b) Singh and Agrawal ical kingdom beyond the Himalayas. New York: Anchor (1976) for the Kashmir valley, India; (c) Yamanaka (1982) Books. 14 reports a C date of 86701210/200 yr. BP for a humic soil Birkeland, P. W. 1984. Soils and geomorphology. New York: Ox- sample obtained at 100 cm depth near Muktinath, Nepal, ford University Press. at an elevation of 4,300 m. A glacier-free and warm climate Bishop, B., and C. Naumann. 1996. Mount Everest: Reclama- is suggested as having existed at that time. Other studies tion of the world’s highest junk yard. Mountain Research and documenting vegetation change, but not accompanied by Development 16 (3): 323–27. 14C or other dating extrapolations, include Vishnu-Mittre Bishop, N. 1989. From Zomo to Yak: Change in a Sherpa village. (1966); Sharma and Vishnu-Mittre (1969) for the Kashmir Human Ecology 17 (2): 177–204. 138 Byers

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