In the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, there is a desertified land of nearly 3.42 million mu (of which the desert area is 1.42 million mu), and the desert moves eastward at a speed of 5-15 meters per year, which seriously affects the local transportation hub and normal production and life. From the satellite cloud map, it is like a wolf tongue slowly moving, swallowing the beautiful Guinan grassland. In the mid-1990s, in order to protect their homeland, the people of all ethnic groups in Southern Guinan united as one and began to declare war on the Mugetan Desert, through 25 years of unremitting efforts, the desert stopped moving, the desert became an oasis, and the work of sand prevention and control achieved phased results, for this reason, the local government built a Tuguhun Castle (plateau ecological education base in Huangshatou, which displayed some tools and photos of sand control over the years), and its meaning is to use this antique building to firmly lock the moving desert in Huangshatou. Let it guard the ecological security of Guinan all year round in spring, summer, autumn and winter.
Keeping in mind the mission, vow to turn the desert into an oasis
It is hard to imagine that half a century ago, this was a desolate place where "yellow sand shaded the sky and birds had no perch trees". Muge Beach, in the middle of Guinan County, has a vast terrain and rectangular shape, west to the Longyangxia reservoir area, north to the banks of the Shagou River, south to the Mangla River, and east to the Mangshiduo Grass Beach, with an area of 1313 square kilometers, which is the largest beach in the county. Mugetan has been known as a "sandbar" since ancient times, and the "Biography of Wei Shu Tuguhun" records: "Ah Cai Li called himself a general on horseback and a history of sandbar thorns, and there was yellow sand in his department, and he returned hundreds of miles in the week, and there were no grasses and trees, because of his name." The Book of Song, Biography of Xianbei Tuguhun, describes it more concretely, "There is yellow sand in the west of its country, one hundred and twenty miles from north to south, and seventy miles from east to west, and there are no grasses and trees, so the sandbar is therefore numbered." "Thirty-six in the Tongjian Jinji, In the Notes on Hu San Province, Duan Guo's "Record of Shazhou" is quoted as saying: "There is yellow sand in the southwest of Shuihe County, one hundred and twenty miles in the north and south, seventy miles in the east and west, and yangchuan in the west. Because Guinan was under the jurisdiction of Douhe County during the Jin Dynasty, guided by Guide, because the location of the Muge Beach mentioned above coincides with the present day, there is no doubt that the Muge Wei is referred to. Mr. Li Wenshi said in the article "Tuguhun State Geographical Examination Strategy": "Mug is the tibetan language of today. Famine means famine. I would like to extend it to desert. This is related to the yellow sand, which does not produce grass and trees. Mug is the original language of Tuguhun, which is not far from the tibetan language of today, and may also have some connection with the ancient Xiqiang language. He also said: "Mohe, Mohe, Mohe homophonical transliteration, are the real names of the sandbar (now Tibetan Muge, or lineage is the Root of the Tuguhun language)", he also said: "Mohe and Muge are a transliteration of one tone", called Mug Beach in Chinese, and gradually evolved into Muge Beach.
In order to change the grim situation of "sand entering and retreating" in MugeTan, Guinan people who have not accepted defeat since 1996 have listed desertification control as the top priority of the county. One person, one shovel, one frame car, thus established a foolish ambition, and began the "bit by bit" mode of sand control... At that moment, the Yellow Sand in Guinan ushered in a new destiny, with the participation of cadres, teachers and students, military militia, and the masses, who prepared their own grain and grass, ate and slept in the wind, fought day and night, and carried out an unprecedented scale of 10,000 mu of sand control and afforestation activities in the desert area.
Twenty-five years later, the forest coverage rate in the Huangshatou area around Mugetan has increased from 2.6% in 1996 to 19.24% now, with a cumulative investment of 1.45 billion yuan and a desertification area of 130,000 hectares, of which more than 26,000 hectares of desert have been effectively treated, and Guinan County has also been rated as a national comprehensive demonstration area for sand prevention and control and a national advanced unit for sand prevention and control. The former desert has gradually turned back into an oasis, Guinan's 80,000 sons and daughters have snatched back the disappeared green, and behind every green in the Guinan Plateau, there is a magnificent story behind every green...
Hard work, a generation has a generation of responsibilities
Nowadays, the first generation of sand control people in Huangshatou have reached their twilight years, many of them have left their jobs, it is they who have cast a "green monument" with ideals and beliefs, with youth and blood, and the condensed "Guinan sand control spirit" has also been passed on across time and space.
Zhan Wenli, the first generation of sand control technicians who went to Huangshatou in 1996, said that choosing forestry is to choose dedication, he has been working for a long time in the first line of sand control and production, consistently loving his career, doing a line, loving a line, being diligent and sincere, working hard and complaining, never considering personal gains and losses, until retirement in 2021. He has worked as a forestry station technician, assistant engineer, engineer and senior engineer.
Born in 1968, Tan Mingsheng is a native of Linying, Henan, and has just graduated from university and plunged into Huangshatou. "Dry forestry is unknown, because what you do, thirty or forty years later to see the results," he said, from 1995 to the county forestry bureau, began to engage in ecological construction and sand control work. Since 1997, he has participated in national research projects, and experimented with willow deep planting and afforestation on the semi-fixed sand dunes fixed in Huangshatou, which was successful and widely promoted, and on the basis of the success of the experiment, he carried out sand control afforestation in Huangshatou for ten consecutive years, turning the previously barren land into a desert oasis.
Yin Bingfen and He Shaojun, born after the 80s, are a husband and wife, both of whom are engaged in forestry work. "Farming is usually very busy, holidays and weekends are rarely rested, and overtime at night is a common thing. Usually, not only can not take care of the family, the two young children also have to be taken care of by the mother-in-law, I really owe them too much, did not fulfill the responsibility of a daughter and mother", at this time Yin Bingfen's eyes flashed with crystal tears. "But in order to make the land that gave birth to me greener, the water more beautiful, the sky bluer, and in order to leave a pure land for future generations, we will continue to move forward with the baton of our predecessors." She said confidently.
Dorjega is a native of Guanxiu Village, Sendo Town, and a ranger of huangshatou, and every time he comes to the key period of fire prevention, he comes out early and returns late every day, carrying a kettle, taking fried noodles, and shuttling through the jurisdiction of his guardianship. "It's not easy to plant a tree in the desert, it's even harder to plant a tree alive, and we have to treat every tree here like our own children." This is Dorjega's heartfelt words.
The of a thousand miles was destroyed by the ant nest. This piece of green is watered by generations of people in Guinan with sweat, it is not easy to come by, and it is not easy to protect this piece of green. A little spark, a moment of carelessness, and irresponsibility can destroy this forest sea.
Tan Mingsheng, director of the Guinan County Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said: Over the past twenty-five years, generations of Guinan people have heeded the party's call and created a green miracle of turning desert into an oasis with their blood and sweat, vividly interpreting the spirit of Guinan's sand control that dares to take responsibility, perseverance, unity between the army and the people, and fighting against the world, as well as the mission of being loyal to the cause of the party and the people.
Green development, continue to write a contemporary legend
With the unremitting efforts of cadres and masses of all ethnic groups in Guinan, a solid "green Great Wall" has been built in Huangshatou, which has effectively blocked the eastward spread of the Mugetan desert, not only maintained the ecological security of the reservoir area and the surrounding areas, but also provided a guarantee for the stability of the Longyang Lake ecosystem and excellent water quality, and ensured that the clear water of a river flows eastward.
Nowadays, Huangshatou has a good ecological environment resources and rich species resources, making it a precious and natural species gene pool of the plateau, here is the kingdom of plants, the existing vascular plants 32 families, 71 genera and 135 species, including 2 species of near-threatened species in the IUCN list, they are Tibetan sea buckthorn and horned orchid, the main aquatic plants are grate eye vegetables, spike-like foxtail algae, fir leaf algae, narrow-leaved cattail, etc.; here is the paradise of wild animals, wild vertebrates have a total of 36 families and 83 species, of which the largest number of bird species, There are 58 species, including 1 species of national level I key protected birds golden eagle, 13 species of grade II key protected birds such as gray crane and kite, and rare species account for 24.1% of the total number of species. It is both a tangible story of human nostalgia and an ideal home for hermit birds. It will also bring people the poetic association of "a tree smoke at the edge of the embankment", "jasper is made into a tree high, ten thousand green silk tassels hanging down" and "wet apricot blossom rain, blowing noodles are not cold willow wind".
Taking the road of green development, the merit is in the contemporary era, and the benefit is in the thousands of autumns, which is a great project that benefits future generations. Huangshatou Road is to sow the green road, defend the green road, develop the green road, today's Huangshatou is known as "the source of water, the hometown of clouds, the world of flowers, the ocean of forests, the paradise of animals". In the past hundred years, the vicissitudes of huangshatou from green to sand and then from sand to green have provided positive and negative experiences and lessons for man and nature to coexist in harmony.
"Protecting the ecology is "the great power of the country.". We will firmly establish General Secretary Xi Jinping's concept of "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains", continue to uphold and carry forward the spirit of sand control in Southern Guinan, coordinate the coordinated development of desert protection and rational utilization, continue to promote the construction of national sand prevention and control demonstration counties, summarize experience and promote advanced technologies, and make greater contributions to maintaining the ecological security of the upper reaches of the Yellow River. Tan Mingsheng said.