Above the ice field, a snow leopard appeared in front of the infrared camera lens, selling a cute in front of the camera, repeatedly "pacing" back and forth, turning its head and extending its claws to shoot at the camera... The highland overlord, which appeared near 5607 meters above sea level, refreshed the altitude of the snow leopard, which also worried the expedition team that the global warming and the snow line moved may be the reason for the snow leopard's movement towards higher altitudes.
Investigate high-altitude creatures, explore the secrets of the yangtze River source, and encourage tourists to take away garbage... This has become the daily work of Yang Xin, head of the Green River Environmental Protection Promotion Association, "sticking to the plateau in summer and going down the mountain in winter to 'change the edge'". However, for how to protect the source of the Yangtze River, Yang Xin has a new understanding, from the beginning to exclude tourism intervention, and now he believes that the protection of the Yangtze River source can learn from the experience of Yellowstone National Park in the United States, so that the total amount of ecological resources can be controlled and continuously utilized, and what they are doing is to investigate the distribution of animals and plants and discover more secrets in the world.
After 30 years of long drifting, he used the reputation he earned to feed the source of the Yangtze River
Coinciding with the 30 years of long drift, Yang Xin will always receive various phone calls to let him talk about the thrilling stories of that year, and he will introduce the topic of how to protect the source of the Yangtze River. "Now that winter is here, there are annual meetings in many places, and this is also the time of year when I 'change my relationship'." More than half a hundred years old, Yang Xin still lives a "cloud life", and in the past week, he has traveled to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai to raise funds for the Yangtze River source protection project.
At the golmud city tourism promotion meeting on the 5th, his bearded image was recognized by people of that era at a glance. "This man is powerful, he dares to drift on the Tuotuo River!" A miner handed over his business card and wanted to hear the story of the long drift. Yang Xin talked about the view of protecting the source of the Yangtze River.
"More than a dozen people died drifting, they became heroes, we became heroes." When it comes to long drift, Yang Xin only said that long drift makes him famous, but this is a business card, which is good for feeding back the source of the Yangtze River. As he said, this bearded image is still fresh in the minds of his contemporaries, although 30 years later, the beard is white and the toad mirror has become a myopic glasses.
A change in attitude towards protecting the source of the Yangtze River can be appropriately organized for scientific expeditions
Yang Xin's Green River Environmental Protection Promotion Association has been committed to promoting and organizing natural ecological environmental protection activities in the upper reaches of the river, and decades of protection experience have given Yang Xin a new understanding of the resources of protected areas. "From the beginning we thought protection was not to let people get close." Yang Xin has also always been opposed to tourism development.
However, in recent years, he has not thought so, "you can still refer to the Yellowstone National Park model." Yang Xin believes that organizing appropriate scientific expedition tourism will allow more people to enter the source of the Yangtze River and understand it before there will be more protective measures.
"Jiuzhaigou is a lumberyard if it is not properly developed, and Coco Xili also has greater protection under public supervision." Yang Xin told reporters that what he is doing now is to investigate the distribution of species in the protected area, find more suitable sites for observation, and measure the carrying capacity of the local ecological environment.
"For example, after passing the assessment, 100 places are given every day, and they are divided into 5 echelons." Yang Xin also talked with the local tourism department, so that local herders can be trained as guides to increase their income, so as to better protect the source of the Yangtze River.
Discover the "Grand Canyon of Colorado" photographed with highland snow leopards
In the source of the Yangtze River, there are beautiful scenery everywhere, Yang Xin and volunteers in the investigation, but also found a cliff comparable to the "Grand Canyon of Colorado", "these are washed out of the Yangtze River." Yang Xin named it "Tongtianhe Cliff", according to his vision, this place will become an excellent place to observe the starry sky in the future, and looking down, you can see the living posture of various first-class protected animals.
Displaying them, we can also mention everyone's intuitive understanding of environmental protection. In June this year, Yang Xin and the expedition team took out an infrared camera card, which captured two snow leopards.
"The camera is mounted on the Jiangu di Ru Glacier, at an altitude of 5,503 to 5,607 meters." Lian Xinming, an associate researcher at the Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that this position is higher than the snow leopard at an altitude of 5100 meters that Everest photographed before. He explained that snow leopards live at the top of the plateau food chain and have their presence, which also shows that there is a complete biological chain at this altitude, and the number of rock sheep that snow leopards hunt is stable, which also shows that the vegetation meets their needs.
However, snow leopards generally live at altitudes of 3,000 to 4,500 and move towards high altitudes, which also indicates global warming, which also moves the snow line, "which will eventually break up the snow leopard habitat, resulting in a decline in population." Lian Xinming said that the joint green river to do the range distribution of snow leopards at the source of the Yangtze River can also let the public understand the impact of environmental changes on the species here.
Showcasing the magnificence of protected areas Tackling the garbage problem is key
To show the protected area, the garbage problem is an obstacle that cannot be reached, "what we are doing is to investigate the situation of the plateau garbage and provide information for the upcoming construction and operation of the Qinghai-Tibet Green Station." Yang Xin also invited a special volunteer on this project.
In July this year, as a volunteer of the Green River, Hu Ge participated in the project to investigate the garbage pollution status of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway in the source area of the Yangtze River in 2016, at an altitude of 4500 meters above sea level, the oxygen content in the air is only 50% of the sea level plateau, Hu Ge and volunteers surveyed the 2959-2960 kilometers of garbage on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, and finally picked up the garbage filled with 2 large cartons and 3 large plastic bags. Volunteers made statistical findings on the garbage they picked up: 203 plastic beverage bottles, 152 cans of various kinds, and 213 other cigarette boxes, CDs, packaging, etc., a total of 568 pieces.
"This is only one side of the road, and there will be more than 1,000 pieces on both sides. The Qinghai-Tibet Highway has 450 kilometers through the source area of the Yangtze River, and more than 450,000 pieces of garbage will be wasted." This survey is widely forwarded on the Internet, Yang Xin believes that this is also with the help of Hu Ge's influence, during the plateau volunteer period, Hu Ge and everyone the same dish and soup, but also to cook more than 20 people a day, spare time is to go to the wild to assist in the installation of infrared cameras. Yang Xin revealed that at the 2016 China Charity New Media Salon and Sina Micro Charity Annual Awards Ceremony held on December 6, Green River NGO's "Hu ge Yangtze River Source Environmental Protection Charity Walk" project won the "2016 Top Ten Most Influential Public Welfare Projects" on Weibo.
Chengdu Business Daily client reporter | eunuch Xiaohuai
Image courtesy of respondents
Editor| Yu Mengxiang