Xinhua Viewpoint, Focus on the Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspectorate|Illegal sand mining in Dongting Lake District hollowed out more than 2,000 acres of beach
Illegal sand mining hollowed out more than 2,000 acres of beaches, and the wetlands that should have been lush with water and grass were densely covered with ridges, and some of the areas that should be restored were illegally replanted with trees...... Recently, the reporter of "Xinhua Viewpoint" followed the Fifth Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Supervision Group to visit the Dongting Lake area and found that there are ecological problems in many protected areas that destroy the wetland ecology.
1
More than 2,000 acres of beach have been hollowed out in the reserve
Nearly 20 million tons of sand were illegally mined
The Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve is located in two areas, Li County and Jin City, Changde City, with an area of 119,000 acres. The regulations of the nature reserve stipulate that quarrying and sand digging in the nature reserve are prohibited.
The inspection team saw that more than 10 sand mining ships were mining sand in the Mengjiang Yuanzhou Beach in the protected area, and some ships were sorting sand and gravel in the main stream of Lishui, and the mud water was directly discharged, and the clear water surface was flushed out of a piece of muddy yellow. The quarried sand and gravel are piled up in the water, more than 10 meters high, and stretch for 100 meters.
The inspection team found that the sand mining ship was illegally mining sand in Mengjiang Yuanzhou Beach in the Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve. (Photo courtesy of the inspection team)
The inspector found that the sand mining operation of the enterprise was approved by the Li County Water Conservancy Department. In recent years, the department has repeatedly violated approvals to allow companies to mine sand in the Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve.
In July 2019, the Li County Water Conservancy Department allowed Li County Economic Construction Investment Co., Ltd. and Li County Dongyue Commerce and Trade Industry Co., Ltd. to mine sand in the Mengjiang Yuanzhou Beach of the Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve.
"At that time, I didn't know that Meng Jiangyuan belonged to the reserve." The person in charge of the relevant department of Li County said that it was not known until 2020, when the state carried out a thorough mapping of the integration and optimization of nature reserves. However, relevant information shows that the establishment of the reserve in Tianjin City has been declared to the Hunan Provincial Forestry Department and the former State Forestry Administration, and has been approved as early as 2006.
In December 2022, in order to legalize illegal sand mining, the Tianjin municipal government proposed to transfer Mengjiang Yuanzhou Beach out of the Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve, but it was not approved by the higher authorities.
In September 2023, the Hunan Provincial Department of Water Resources issued the "Sand Mining Plan for the Mainstream of Hunan Province and Dongting Lake (2023-2027)", which clearly requires that "sand mining shall not be allowed in the Mengjiangyuan mining area until the approval of the adjustment plan for the scope of relevant nature reserves". However, in October 2023, the Li County Water Conservancy Department once again violated the approval rules and approved the sand mining of four sand mining companies, including Li County Jiuli Sand and Gravel Co., Ltd. and Li County Huzhou Industrial Co., Ltd.
As of the arrival of inspectors, relevant enterprises have accumulated 19.03 million tons of illegal sand mining, hollowed out an area of 2,085 acres of Mengjiang Yuanzhou beach, and nearly a quarter of Mengjiang Yuanzhou beach has been hollowed out. The on-site inspector found that about 176,000 tons of sand and gravel were piled up in the beach of Mengjiang Yuanzhou.
Satellite images inquired by the inspection team showed that the Mengjiangyuan Beach in the Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve had been excavated in a large area. (Photo courtesy of the inspection team)
In addition, the inspection team also found ecological sabotage activities in other protected areas. In April this year, Yueyang Miluo Agriculture and Rural Development Co., Ltd. carried out illegal cleaning operations of river sediment and sand mining tailings in the experimental area of the Catfish National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Conservation Area in the Miluo River estuary.
"According to the relevant regulations of the reserve, during the special protection period from March to June every year, no activities that may cause damage to the biological resources and ecological environment in the reserve shall be carried out." According to the inspectors, in addition to the aquatic germplasm resources protected fish catfish, the reserve also distributes more than 310 species of various aquatic wild protected animals, including some national key protected wild animals and endangered animals.
2
Some of the European and American black poplar retreat areas have not been repaired
There is a resurgence of illegal planting
In the 80s of the last century, European and American black poplars were introduced into the Dongting Lake area for planting as a papermaking forest. The planting of Populus nigra in Europe and the United States requires a large area of digging ditches and ridges, and the shallow water and tidal flats in the lake area are greatly reduced, which seriously damages the natural form of the wetland. In addition, the growth of Populus nigra in Europe and the United States has a large demand for water and nutrients, which will accelerate the dryness of the wetlands. In 2017, the central environmental protection inspection team pointed out in the feedback of the inspectors of Hunan Province that the large-scale planting of European and American black poplars seriously threatened the safety of the ecological environment of Dongting Lake.
In 2017, Hunan Province formulated a poplar clean-up work plan for the Dongting Lake Nature Reserve, requiring that all poplars in the nature reserve be cleared by the end of 2020, and ecological restoration work such as returning forests to wetlands and returning water to flats and ditches to water should be carried out simultaneously.
However, the reporter recently followed the inspection team in the South Dongting Lake Provincial Nature Reserve in Yiyang City to see that although the European and American black poplars have been basically cleared, the ecological restoration work such as returning water to the flat ditch has not been carried out. The ditches in the reserve are densely packed, the ridges are dry, the ditches are overgrown with weeds, and only a little shallow water is stored in low-lying areas. According to statistics, about 183,000 acres of ditching and ridge lifting area are still retained in the nature reserve.
Imposition photo: The left picture shows the natural wetland landscape of South Dongting Lake (file picture), and the right picture shows the current situation of digging ditches and raising ridges in South Dongting Lake. (Photo courtesy of the inspection team)
Experts believe that digging ditches and ridges in wetland reserves has completely changed the shoal and underwater topography of wetland areas, changed the habitats of wetland plants, fish and other wild animals, and threatened the living environment of aquatic life and birds.
What's even more incredible is that some of the areas in the reserve that have been cleared from European and American black poplars have been illegally replanted with a large number of trees. The reporter saw at the scene that within 200 meters along the embankment, the ditch that was originally planted with European and American black poplars was lined with maple poplars, dry willows and other forest trees, each tree spaced about 3 meters apart, and the locals said that they had been planted for two or three years.
During a recent unannounced visit, the inspection team found that there were excavators still working in the reserve, and some workers were digging pits and planting trees.
The inspection team found that the area where the European and American black poplars had been cleared in the South Dongting Lake Provincial Nature Reserve of Yiyang City was digging pits and planting trees. (Photo courtesy of the inspection team)
Why plant new trees in the same place where the trees were cut down when they should have been retired? After investigation, it was learned that between October 2017 and January 2022, while the local government organized the removal of European and American black poplars in the reserve, the water conservancy department of Yuanjiang City, Yiyang, signed 25 lease contracts without authorization, and leased 21,000 acres of European and American black poplar clearance areas that should have been ecological restoration to individuals, and used them for planting maple poplars, dry willows and other forest trees in violation of regulations.
The reporter checked the contract one by one, the annual rent of the land ranged from 20 yuan to 80 yuan per mu, the leased area was less than dozens of acres, and more than thousands of acres, and the latest expiration time of the contract was December 31, 2036. A lessee told reporters that the contract was to plant trees and sell them to paper mills after they were completed.
"The main purpose of cleaning up the European and American black poplars in the reserve is to return forests to wetlands, gradually restore near-natural wetland forms through ecological restoration, and improve the ecological functions of wetlands." The inspectors said that the local clean-up and rectification work was not thorough, and the original planting of trees lacked program demonstration, administrative approval and other links, and the resurgence of illegal planting.
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Rectification and reform cannot be conditional, discounted, or flexible
The inspection team pointed out that Yiyang, Changde, Yueyang and other places have insufficient understanding of the importance of ecological protection of Dongting Lake wetland, and the rectification work is not strict and unrealistic, illegal planting and illegal sand mining have been repeatedly prohibited, and the problem of ecological damage is prominent.
At present, Mengjiang Yuanzhou Beach has been completely suspended. In the next step, Changde City will comprehensively review the sand mining of rivers and lakes and the ecological and environmental protection of nature reserves in the city, improve the boundary survey and benchmarking, sort out the risks and hidden dangers, make a list of problems, and resolutely and thoroughly rectify the problems found.
In response to the illegal operation in the national aquatic germplasm resources protection area of catfish in the estuary section of the Miluo River found by the inspectors, Yueyang City said that it would conduct a comprehensive investigation, pay close attention to normal supervision, strengthen long-term management, and resolutely prevent the recurrence of such phenomena.
In response to the problems pointed out by the inspection team, such as returning forests to wet and giving up halfway, the Yiyang Municipal Government said that it would set up a special work class, formulate a rectification plan for typical cases, clarify the time limit for rectification, reconcile accounts one by one, and strengthen tracking and supervision.
The inspection team believes that to strengthen the protection and restoration of the Dongting Lake wetland, relevant localities and departments should pay more attention to the construction of ecological civilization, increase research on solutions to relevant ecological and environmental problems, systematic, comprehensive and coordinated governance, and avoid the problems that have appeared in the early stage from being delayed for a long time and not being corrected.
The inspection team will further investigate and verify the relevant situation, and do a good job of follow-up inspection work as required.
Source: Xinhua News Agency