A restored black mud beach in Dari County, Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Linhai
Xining, 8 Oct (Xinhua) -- For a time, in the face of degrading grasslands and the emergence of black soil beaches, herders were worried. "Cattle and sheep can't eat grass, and after the grass is degraded, there are 'scars' on the grassland, which is a disaster for herders."
Grasslands are an important ecosystem and natural resource in China, and play an important role in maintaining national ecological security and promoting the income of farmers and herdsmen.
Caihua's home is located in Wosai Township, Dari County, Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the hinterland of Sanjiangyuan, at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters. Talent has more than 2,000 acres of grassland and more than 80 yaks, and in 2018 he was hired by the government as a grassland steward.
Caihua said that in the early 1990s, due to factors such as drought and overgrazing, many grasslands in Dari County gradually thinned out, and in some places, black patches of grass appeared. This land, known as the "black mud beach", is a sign of grassland degradation.
Herder talent is in their own pasture. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Linhai
The words of talent were confirmed by the prairie expert Rozhgai. The 66-year-old Luo Rigai was the station manager of the grassland station in Dari County and has been dealing with the grass for 40 years. Luo Rigai said that in 2011, the area of degraded grassland in Manzhao Township, Dari County, reached more than 80%, and the water and soil on one side could not feed the other side, and many herders drove cattle and sheep to rent grasslands in other areas to maintain their livelihoods.
"Restoring grasslands in alpine and high-altitude areas requires greater efforts, and we have achieved remarkable results in grassland restoration on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by comprehensively upgrading technical means and mobilizing herders' participation." Zhang Hongming, director of the Grassland Management Division of the Qinghai Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said.
Dari County Cpc Committee Standing Committee member, Jimai Town Party Committee Secretary Cai Rang Nyima introduced that Dari County has invested a total of 640 million yuan, successively implemented the Sanjiangyuan ecological protection and construction of the first phase, the second phase, the return of grazing land to grassland, the comprehensive treatment of black soil beach, forestry pest prevention and control, grassland pest prevention and control, degraded grassland artificial grass ecological restoration, wetland protection and other projects.
In the late autumn, the reporter saw at a black soil beach restoration site in Chagan Village, Manzhang Township, Dari County, that the grass seeds planted 2 months ago had been pumped out of new shoots, some grass seeds were not as high as people's knees, eagles flew high in the air, and the Yellow River water flowed around the county town.
He Wenjing, deputy director of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Dari County, introduced that the local grassland restoration mainly selects grass species such as alkali grass, cold ground early maturing grass, Chinese fescue and other grass species, and actively explores and promotes technologies such as grass seed combination, formula fertilization, pest prevention and control, etc., which provides strong scientific and technological support for grassland ecological protection and restoration.
Guoluo Prefecture took the lead in implementing the "grass chief system" in Qinghai, formed a set of effective grassland resources protection and management development model and a strict grassland ecological environment protection system, established a grassland management and protection grid system and an organizational system for management and protection teams, and incorporated grassland contracting, grassland ecological protection, restoration, utilization and other activities into the management and protection system to form a whole region coverage.
Li Xiaonan, director of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Qinghai Province, introduced that during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, Qinghai Province treated 7.9781 million mu of black soil beach-type degraded grassland, and the comprehensive vegetation coverage of grassland in the province reached 57.4%, an increase of 3.2 percentage points over 2011, 1.6 percentage points higher than the national average, and the grassland vegetation coverage remained stable and tended to improve accounted for 86.85%.
The beautiful scenery of "Nian Bao Yuze" in Jiuzhi County, Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Linhai
Drive 100 kilometers from Dari County to Jiuzhi County, Guoluo Prefecture, which is famous for the 4A-level scenic spot of "Nian Bao Yu Ze". Xianke, secretary of the party committee of the Scenic Area Protection Administration, told reporters that mountains, lakes, grasses and flowers are the most beautiful business cards of this scenic spot, and wild animals such as snow leopards, black-necked cranes and rock sheep often visit here.
"The increasing number of tourists increases the risk of grassland destruction. Later, we made way for ecological protection, and the scenic spot was closed in 2018. Senko said.
Dai Yong, deputy county magistrate of Jiuzhi County, said that in order to protect grasslands and biodiversity, Jiuzhi County has made great sacrifices. Last year, the county's fiscal revenue was 12 million yuan, while in 2017, the ticket revenue of the "Nian Bao Yuze" scenic spot alone was 9 million.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Grassland Department of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the process of grassland protection and restoration in China has been significantly accelerated, major policies have taken root, major projects have achieved remarkable results, and the ecological quality of grasslands has been continuously improved. The quality and quantity of China's grasslands have increased, and the trend of continuous deterioration of grassland ecology has been initially curbed.
In 2020, the comprehensive vegetation coverage of the national grassland reached 56.1%, and the output of grassland fresh grass reached 1.1 billion tons, an increase of nearly 80 million tons over 2015.
"Now looking at the herds of cattle and sheep on the grassland, the felt houses are dotted, and the grassland in the depths of that memory is back." Rorygay said.