Ninety-eight volunteers across China have applied for environmental protection activities for 2006 in a nature reserve famous for endangered Tibetan antelopes in northwestern China, a source with the reserve said.

The voluntary work, which started registration this January, has attracted people from different walks of life, such as teachers, journalists and company clerks, said Cega, director of the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve Administration.

According to the plan, the administration will conduct a first-stage voluntary activity, including environmental protection promotion and ecotourism research, at the end of this May, he said.

The Hoh Xil Nature Reserve in northwestern Qinghai Province was established specially for the protection of the Tibetan antelope, one of China's most-protected species native to the 600,000-sq-km grasslands at the reserve, the Altun Mountain in Xinjiang and the Qiangtang Nature Reserve in Tibet.

Since 2002, the reserve has organized a number of environmental voluntary activities, attracting more than 100 volunteers across the country.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2006)