The black-necked crane is a national first-level protected animal. It mainly breeds on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and spends the winter on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. It is the only crane among the 15 species of cranes in the world that breeds and overwinters on the plateau, and its number is very rare.

According to experts from the Yunnan Provincial Forestry Department in charge of wetland protection, a simultaneous survey of black-necked cranes carried out by the Yunnan Provincial Forestry Department and the International Crane Foundation (ICF) in 2002 showed that there were 930 black-necked cranes overwintering in Dashanbao Nature Reserve in 2002.

, the survey data at the same survey time in 2003 was 1043. Dashanbao has become the protected area with the largest number of black-necked cranes per unit area in China.

Since they migrate along fixed routes every year, in order to protect the specific environmental type in which black-necked cranes rely on for survival, the mountainous area, which mainly focuses on wildlife protection, is also responsible for the sub-alpine meadows and swamp grasslands where black-necked cranes live.

The Dashanbao Nature Reserve is rich in groundwater resources and is the birthplace of many tributaries of the Jinsha River (Yangtze River).

Caohai, Weining, Guizhou has previously established a national nature reserve as another habitat for black-necked cranes.

The "China Wetland Conservation Action Plan" has included Dashanbao in the list of important wetlands, and the State Forestry Administration has also listed Dashanbao as one of China's important protected areas that declared internationally important wetlands in 2004.

The overwintering environment of black-necked cranes in Yunnan is mainly wetlands and wetland meadows. Wetland meadows are not very large in China. The nature reserve effectively protects black-necked cranes and protects sub-alpine wetland meadows in Yunnan Province.

Wetland meadows that have been destroyed in the past can be gradually restored and expanded through artificial restoration, and play a positive role in wetland restoration.

Therefore, the effective protection of black-necked cranes and their habitat wetlands is of great significance to the protection of subalpine wetlands and biodiversity.