Ecological guards grow green future in Sanjiangyuan National Park

Braving the early spring cold, ecological guards are working vigorously to make green mountains in Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture, northwest China’s Qinghai province.

And their efforts are paying off. One day, when two members of the ecological protection team were patrolling along Tongtian River, a main stream of the source of Yangtze River, they found a jackal, a wild animal that is under class-one state protection in China.

It was the first time that the animal had been found there, which made them both very excited. “The discovery of rare and endangered animals in the river basin in recent years is a sign that the environment here is getting better,” said the two ecological guards.

Rangers patrol a forest on a mountain in Nangchen county, Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai province. (Photo/People's Daily Overseas Edition)

Naggyan Dorje is the director of the forestry and grassland bureau of Yushu. He leads a tree planting project on Beishan Mountain in the prefecture.

The Beishan Mountain afforestation project stretches 10 kilometers from east to west. This year, Yushu plans to plant 9,300 mu of trees under the project. However, as Yushu is located on the plateau, the window for tree planting lasts only 45 days starting from mid-April, according to Naggyan Dorje.

It takes at least three days to cover the 10-km mountain road. As it’s a race against time, Naggyan Dorje and his colleagues have little time to rest while working and can only eat instant food.

Planting trees on the high plateau is no easy task. To better learn about the conditions of the place where they were going to plant trees, Naggyan Dorje and his colleagues made an advance visit to the mountain.

In recent years, the ecological guards have planted 5,000 mu, or 333 hectares of trees on mountains in Yushu. In 2021, the number of trees to be planted is expected to be double that of the previous years combined.

It is exactly because of such efforts that Yushu, which was frequently plagued by sandstorms in early spring, now sees more blue-sky days during the spring season.

One section of the Sanjiangyuan National Park is located in Zhidoi county in Yushu. In March, the Zhidoi administrative office under the Sanjiangyuan National Park management committee held a meeting on the ecological protection of Sanjiangyuan.

After the meeting, 4,047 ecological guards in the county took quick action to implement the decisions made at the meeting, initially by going to the mountains to survey the ecological resources there.

Tenzin Dorje is a local villager. Over the past few years, he has recorded and photographed 767 sites of spring water sources, 125 lakes of different sizes, and more than 300 wild animals and plants since he became an ecological guard.

In the Sanjiangyuan National Park, there are 17,211 certified ecological guards, who were previously farmers or herders. Qinghai province has provided subsidies totaling 500 million yuan to financially support the ecological guards, lifting the annual income per household by 21,600 yuan.

“As beneficiaries of this beautiful environment, we should work harder to protect it,” said Tenzin Dorje.