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Regarded as a natural botanical garden in central China, the Xingdou Mountains, located in Hubei Province's Enshi city, have recently been recognized as a national natural protection zone after passing an evaluation made by the China Environmental Protection Bureau. The Xingdou Mountains natural protection zone is located 57 kilometers southeast of Lichuan, extending over 68,339 hectares and covering Lichuan, Enshi and Xianfeng counties. The area includes two styles of landscape; one based on Mount Xingdou and the other on Xiaohe River. The area was influenced slightly by the fourth glacial period, providing ideal conditions for a variety of plants to live, proliferate and diversify, without human interference. The area still holds much of its original formations and presents a "natural botanical garden in central China". According to research, the Xingdou Mountains support 2,033 plants, belonging to 557 families from 187 orders. Eight of these plants are recorded on the nation's first-class plant protection list and more than 40 trees are considered rare and ancient. There are also 1,746 wild animals amid the mountains including three recorded on the nation's first-class animal protection list. The Xingdou Mountains were recognized as a provincial natural protection area in 1980. The central government and local authorities will invest a total sum of 320 million yuan (US$38.6 million) in protecting the Xingdou Mountains, according to an official.