An Ecological Heaven Changing with the Four Seasons | Travel Course | K-Travel Mate

Upo Wetland is a vast swamp with a total area of 2,505,000㎡, spanning four myeon: Yuo, Ibang, Daehap, and Daeji in Changnyeong-gun. It is an ecological treasure trove inhabited by more than 800 species of plants, 209 species of birds, 28 species of fish, 180 species of benthic large invertebrates, and 17 species of mammals. It was designated an Ecological and Landscape Conservation Area on July 26, 1997, registered as a Ramsar Convention wetland on March 2, 1998, and designated a Wetland Protection Area on August 9, 1999. Due to its importance, it was designated a Natural Monument on January 13, 2011, and on February 8, 2012, it was designated a Wetland Improvement Area and changed to a Wetland Protection Area. On October 25, 2018, at the 13th Ramsar Convention of the Parties, it was certified as the world's first Ramsar Wetland City. The formation of the wetland began approximately 140 million years ago. During the Mesozoic Cretaceous period when dinosaurs roamed, the sea level rose sharply, and the ground of the Nakdonggang basin subsided, causing water flowing into the Nakdong River to pool and form swamps and natural lakes, which became playgrounds for dinosaurs. Dinosaur footprint fossils remain in Sejin-ri, Yuo-myeon near Upo Wetland. During the rainy season, the water depth can reach 5 meters but is usually 1 to 2 meters. The swamp bed has thick layers of humus accumulated from numerous life forms over tens of millions of years, preventing feet from sinking like in mudflats. This humus layer makes Upo Wetland an ecological archive or a living natural history museum. Until the Japanese colonial period, there were 10 more wetlands around Upo Wetland, including Gahang Wetland, Pallak Wetland, and Hakambeol, but they have disappeared due to reckless development and encroachment by farmland.

국내 최대의 자연 늪지인 우포늪의 생태환경을 이해할 수 있는 자연학습공간이자 문화공간이다. 우포늪 생태관은 조류, 어류, 포유류, 양서류, 파충류 등 각종 습지 야생동물의 기록을 보존ㆍ연구하며 대중에게 전시하는 장소이다. 또한 사람도 자연의 일부라는 사실을 알려주고, 자연환경과 함께 어떻게 살아가야 할지 알려주는 곳이다. 우포늪 생태관은 방문객들이 생태환경을 보다 잘 이해할 수 있도록 우포늪의 이해, 우포늪의 사계, 살아있는 우포늪, 우포늪의 가족들, 생태환경의 이해 등의 전시실로 구성되어 있다.

The Changnyeong area was called Bulsaguk, one of the twelve countries of Jinhan mentioned in the Samguk Sagi, also known as Bisabeolguk. The Changnyeong Gyodong and Songhyeon-dong tumuli cluster refers to a large burial mound group distributed around Gyori and Songhyeon-ri below Mokma Fortress on the western foothills of Hwawangsan in Changnyeong-eup. It was first identified in 1911 by the Japanese scholar Sekino Tadashi. In Gyodong, tens of mounds of various sizes were gathered around a large mound called the royal tomb, but only eight remain today, and the preservation of the surviving mounds is imperfect. Partial excavations were conducted by the Japanese from 1918 to 1919, and it is said that large quantities of pottery and gold crafts corresponding to 20 chariots and two war chariots were unearthed, but except for some artifacts held by the National Museum of Korea and the Tokyo National Museum, these are unconfirmed. According to the investigation results, the large tumuli were horizontal stone chamber or horizontal pit-style tombs. Excavations of Songhyeon-dong tumuli nos. 6 and 7 began in 2002 by the Gyeongnam Cultural Heritage Research Institute and the National Gaya Cultural Heritage Research Institute, revealing over 280 pottery pieces and over 90 iron artifacts including ornaments, horse gear, weapons, and farming tools, as well as over 100 wooden artifacts, including the country’s first boat-shaped camphor coffin, gaining great academic attention. Confirmed artifacts include gilt-bronze crowns, gold and silver ornaments, silver crown decorations, gilt-bronze coronets, gold earrings, various horse gear, decorated weapons, scale armor and various iron weapons, U-shaped shovel blades and various farming tools, metal vessels, and various pottery and wooden objects from Gyodong and Songhyeon-dong tumuli. Most artifacts, including some pottery, closely resemble those found in Gyeongju, the capital of Silla, and based on the structure of the tumuli, the burial cluster is estimated to have been created in the early 5th to 6th century.

The Changnyeong Suljeong-ri West Three-Story Stone Pagoda is a Silla-style general stone pagoda, shaped with a three-story body set on a two-tiered base. It is 5.1 meters tall and made of granite, designated as a Treasure on June 24, 1970. It shows a unique structure of the lower and upper base tiers, each composed of eight stones. The lower tier is assembled with eight stones, including the floor stone and a single stone, with pillar shapes carved on each corner and two pillars carved between them. The upper tier is also made of eight stones, with a small flat stone inserted in the middle of each face; it has no corner pillars but features two carved an-sang (lotus designs) on each of the four sides. Currently, a roughly door-shaped carving on a stone inserted in the middle of the southern face is believed to be a later addition. The body of the pagoda consists of a single stone for both the body and the roof stones, with pillar shapes carved at each of the four corners of the body stone. The roof stones have thin, flat sloping surfaces, with five-tiered supports underneath, and clearly raised four corners giving a light and graceful impression. On the top of the pagoda remain only the head ornament (noban) and the inverted bowl-shaped ornament (bokbal). It is a Unified Silla period work, but overall carving techniques suggest it is somewhat inferior and later in construction date than the Changnyeong Suljeong-ri East Three-Story Stone Pagoda.