Tengis-Shishged

Tengis-Shishged is a national park in Khövsgöl Province in northern Mongolia, in the taiga near Tsagaannuur. It was established in 2011 and is managed under the Ulaan Taiga Protected Areas Administration^[1].

The park lies in the taiga home range of the Dukha (Tsaatan) reindeer herders, whose reindeer are the best-known animals of the area. Hunting of wild animals is restricted within the park^[1].

The park protects northern Mongolian taiga forest, the habitat in which the Dukha graze their reindeer.

The park is named for the Tengis and Shishged rivers, which rise in its mountains and flow toward the Darkhad Depression.

The park lies in the cold northern taiga zone of Mongolia, where winters are long and severe.

The Dukha are a small mobile Indigenous group of about 250 people who have herded reindeer and moved through the taiga for over two centuries. After state employment ended in 1990, many turned to hunting and culling reindeer^[1].

The park was established in 2011. That year officials told the Dukha they could no longer hunt in the area, and herding was limited to three spots and barred east of the Tengis River and Gugned Valley^[1].

The main draw is the taiga landscape of the Tengis and Shishged river valleys and the Dukha reindeer camps. The Tengis and Shishged watershed is also fished by organised angling tours^[1].

The nearest settlement is Tsagaannuur, about 40 km away, in the Darkhad Depression of Khövsgöl Province.

Rangers have received anti-poaching training from the Mongol Ecology Center and partners, and a 2015 sister-parks agreement linked Yosemite National Park with Mongolia's environment ministry. The restrictions on hunting and herding have been criticised as affecting the Dukha's traditional way of life^[1].