Guarding green waters and green mountains to build a solid ecological barrier in the capital

Battle sculptures from the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression set up in the Shenquan Gorge scenic area Photo/ Reporter Yang Yi

The green barrier in western Beijing, Mentougou, is rich in mountains and lush forests. In 2021, Mentougou District will fully launch the "forest chief system" and take the lead in carrying out the first most beautiful "two mountains" theoretical guardian tree work, all of which are for the new development of the capital and "guard" the green home base; at the same time, Mentougou District will carry out a series of projects such as ecological water replenishment, mine restoration, and comprehensive treatment, and use "repair" to enhance green ecology; study the pilot of "carbon sink" equity trading, and study the value realization mechanism of ecological products... Mentougou District promotes upgrading with innovation and adds vitality to the ecological conservation area. Today's Mentougou, the concept of "ecological standing area" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, which has refreshed the development of Jingxi.

Rangers guard the "green mountains"

There is nostalgia in the conservation area

On December 25, 2021, in Lujia Village, Zhaitang Town, Mentougou District, the sky was just dark, and Lu Jinming, who was nearly 66 years old, got up from bed. With an average altitude of 700 meters, it enters the cold winter month and the early morning temperature is always below zero. Lu Jinming put on a thick cotton coat, pushed open the door, and walked in the direction of the Great Cold Ridge.

Lu Jinming is a village-level ranger who walks more than 500 meters to the place where he patrols every day. "We call this place 'Donggou'. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and there is a 3-meter-wide ash road in the middle, and every day I have to walk at least two rounds to see if anyone smokes at the foot of the mountain and if there is a fire on the mountain. Winter is a critical time for forest fire prevention! Lu Jinming said as he strode forward.

On both sides of the mountain road, tall pines stand proudly, and the warm sun of deep winter shines obliquely in the dark green pine forest. "Most of the people in our Lü family village are surnamed Lü, and this is my root!" Even if I'm old now, I have to keep it well..." Lu Jinming said.

As one of the ecological conservation areas in Beijing, Mentougou District is in the final position in the urban spatial layout, it is an important ecological barrier and water source protection place in the capital, and it is the city's "oxygen bar" and "back garden". However, Mentougou District has its own particularities, it is the old revolutionary area and old mining area of Beijing, with unique resource endowments and historical origins, making its ecological development road more distinctive.

The Mentougou District is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the Yongding River, the mother river of Beijing, meanders for 102 kilometers. By the end of 2021, the forest land area in the whole district is 137,000 hectares, the forest coverage rate is 48.08%, and the forest greening rate is 72.75%; the green area is 2194.86 hectares, and the per capita green area is increased to 63.8 square meters, ranking first in the ecological conservation area; the coverage rate of the 500-meter service radius of the park green space is increased to 89.58%, and the per capita park green area is 30.03 square meters, ranking second in the city.

The green water and green mountains that guard Mentougou also guard the green home base of the development of the capital. In order to protect the originality of the ecology, Mentougou District has realized the overall protection of the shanshui lintian lake grass life community through the linkage and integration of the "three long" of river chief, forest chief and field chief. Especially in 2021, Mentougou District will fully launch the "forest chief system", and the focus will be on "keeping".

"We have fully implemented the 'one long, two members' end management and protection model composed of village-level forest chiefs, forest managers and rangers, and consolidated the 'last kilometer' of management and protection responsibilities." According to the relevant person in charge of the Mentougou District Landscaping Bureau, they carry out inspections at least once a week, taking the mountain or the plot as the unit, one by one, one mountain and one slope, one forest and one garden, one flower and one grass, one tree and one wood, and truly realize that "the mountain is managed, the forest is artificial, the tree is protected, and the responsibility is shouldered."

By the end of 2021, there will be a total of 486 forest chiefs, 248 forest managers and 4267 forest rangers in Mentougou District, basically achieving the grid division falling to the hilltop plots, supervising the implementation of management responsibilities to people, and realizing the grid spatialization of landscaping resource protection and management, and the informatization of the supervision of grid responsible persons.

Lens two infrared camera batteries, memory cards, wire ropes, pliers, insulated cups, self-heating meals... Yang Jun, deputy chief of the scientific research and monitoring section of the management office of The Baihuashan National Nature Reserve in Beijing after the 80s, packed up his backpack, put on a storm jacket, picked up hiking poles, and set off from the office area of the management office at an altitude of more than 1100 meters. The main purpose of the trip was to replace the battery of the infrared camera deep in the forest and check the wildlife monitoring situation.

Yang Jun has been rooted in Baihua Mountain for a full decade, and in 2021, he was rated as the first batch of the most beautiful "two mountains" theory guardians in Mentougou. "This honor belongs to all the people of the reserve, and it also urges themselves to guard the Hundred Flowers Mountain with higher standards." Yang Jun said.

After driving for more than an hour, Yang Jun arrived at the Xiaolongmen management station, but the work had just begun. He and his colleagues followed a mountainous path and plunged headlong into the depths of the dense forest. There are all over the bushes around you, and if you are not careful, you will be stabbed. "I've long been used to it, and 'running around the mountains' is my normal work." Yang Jun said that in addition to animal monitoring, he also has to carry out mountain forest fire prevention, pest control and other work, and adhere to the post of "guardian in the mountains" all year round.

In recent years, Beijing has continuously improved the top-level institutional design for the construction and development of ecological conservation areas. From the Implementation Opinions on Promoting ecological protection and green development of ecological conservation areas issued in 2018 to the Regulations on Ecological Protection and Green Development of Ecological Conservation Areas in Beijing promulgated and implemented in 2021, Beijing has used more powerful legislative means to promote the development of ecological conservation areas.

At the same time, the main leaders of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee have repeatedly visited Mentougou to investigate and make important instructions. "Be a good guardian of the 'two mountains' theory", "Keep good mountains and good water and good ecology, build a cornucopia of green development", "Guarding the green water and green mountains is the top priority of the ecological conservation area" "The finale role of the ecological conservation area is brought into full play"... The accurate qualitative description points out the direction for Mentougou and encourages Mentougou to continuously open up a green development path with regional characteristics.

In 2021, Mentougou District took the lead in the city to carry out the first most beautiful "two mountains" theory guardian tree work - practicing the "two mountains" theory and setting up a model of "two mountains". 27 units in the district recommended 66 candidates, and finally 10 people won this honor. Among them, there are Liu Yali, principal of Beijing Eighth Middle School Jingxi Affiliated Primary School, who has let ecological civilization education take root on campus, Luo Jinbao, secretary of the Community Committee of Yongding Town South District, who has planted more than 6,000 acres of greenery, and Shang Xianlan, chairman of the Julanxing Cooperative, who helps low-income farmers get rid of low income. They consciously shoulder their historical responsibilities and guard the green waters and green mountains with practical actions.

The yongding river flows in clear water

Cofferdam bridges for a scenic view

Shot 3 Qingbaikou Village, an ancient village on the banks of the Yongding River. Located on the west side of the Government of Mentougou Yan wing Town, surrounded by water on three sides and facing mountains on the other, the largest tributary of the Yongding River, the Qingshui River, flows here. At the confluence of the two rivers, the water surface is nearly 100 meters wide. At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, more than 30 workers are using sandbags to barrage the river cofferdam, pile up beams, and transform the main river trough and river beach.

Soon, a 100-meter-long bridge will be erected here. Visitors standing on the bridge deck and looking down will see the Yongding River falling down the river step by step, stirring up layers of waves; looking out, in the distance, there are mountains and mountains, and nearby is a Wetland of Qingbaikou covering an area of more than 30 hectares. Turquoise waves, clear wetlands, lakes and streams connected, green surrounding... The comprehensive treatment and ecological restoration project of the Yongding River and Mountain Gorge section is being intensively accelerated, and the magnificent landscape of the Yongding River with clear water and long flow can be reproduced through the way of "repair".

The Yongding River is the mother river of Beijing, but it was "cut off" for 25 years. What made the Yongding River change from dry and intermittent to clear water? All this is inseparable from ecological restoration.

Ecological hydration is an important part. By 2021, the yongding river water replenishment has become the norm, and every day there will be a continuous stream of Yellow River water, Sangan River water, and Yang river water gushing into the Yongding River. Ecological water replenishment has significantly raised the groundwater level along the line, and spring water has resurged in many places in shallow mountainous areas and plains, a large number of wild birds inhabit here, and the Yongding River has regained its vitality.

Comprehensive governance is a practical need. As the Yongding River is fully connected, some "happiness troubles" accompany it. When the river dried up, the villagers could walk along the riverbed, and now the "road" across the river is gone. Previously, coastal villages were not threatened by flooding, but flood control standards now need to be taken into account. Rebuilding flood roads (bridges), repairing shore slopes, masonry retaining walls... Mentougou is stepping up weaving to make up for the shortcomings of facilities and create a new ecology of clear water and long-term flow.

In addition, as an old mining area, Mentougou is steadily promoting the ecological restoration and management of abandoned mines and restoring the green of abandoned mines. In the past five years, the restoration and treatment of the abandoned mine in Mentougou has completed 5 projects and 19 treatment areas, totaling 127.58 hectares. In the future, with the completion of the comprehensive treatment and ecological restoration project of the Yongding River and Mountain Gorge Section, Mentougou will realize the "write-off and zeroing" of abandoned mines.

The value of thinning and nurturing "healthy forests" and "ecological conservation" has emerged

Shot 4 Shangweidian Village is a famous "spring mountain land" in the Mentougou area. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, the remaining old houses, old wells and stone mills show the ancient charm. On the hillside, a 2,000-acre side Berlin is spectacular, planted in the 1960s and 1970s. Nowadays, the forest is luxuriant and hidden.

However, if you look closely, the growth of many side cypresses is not good. Due to the dense forest, the sunlight could not penetrate, the branches in the low areas dried up, and some of the newborn saplings were dying. In mid-November 2021, more than 30 garden workers carried chain saws, chainsaws and scythes in their hands and strode up the mountain. They have an important mission – thinning. According to the pre-made mark, the tree-shaped, strong cypress is retained, and the surrounding "interference trees" are cut down.

"We want to reduce the stand density from 200 plants/mu to 60 plants/mu." Wang Zhanheng, head of the ecological protection section of the Mentougou District Landscaping Bureau, said that the project has been included in the mentougou forest health management forest care pilot project. Through thinning, pruning, replanting and other means, "forest health" has become the basic essence of green conservation.

Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality are the inherent requirements of high-quality development in the new era, and Mentougou forest resources are abundant, and "forest health" is the prerequisite for achieving carbon sink forestry. In recent years, the "Forest Healthy Management Forest Care Project" has come into being - by adjusting the structure and density of forest stands, improve the ecological benefits of forests; increase employment opportunities in green hills and enhance the social benefits of forests; develop the economy of forest areas and enhance the economic benefits of forests. In the past five years, Mentougou District has completed a total of 502,500 mu of forest quality improvement projects, of which 424,000 mu have been forest health management forest care projects.

Facing the "14th Five-Year Plan", Mentougou District is embarking on a pilot study of "carbon sink" and a study on the value realization mechanism of ecological products, and further broadening the transformation path of "green water and green mountains" to "jinshan yinshan". The Beiqing Daily reporter learned that the green industry upgrading in Mentougou District is also stepping up, and a number of specialized new enterprises aiming at cutting-edge technology are thriving. Jingxi Green Screen Mentougou has completed the gorgeous turn from "black" to "green", and made every effort to create a new glory of green water and green mountains!

Text/Reporter Wang Bin