Figure 1 Ranger Wang Zhi'an (Source/Wang Zhi'an)
Wang Zhi'an is a ranger in Baoping Village, Da'an Yi Naxi Township, Yongsheng County, Lijiang City, Yunnan Province. Half of his life is to go down to the fields and farm, and the other half is to tour the mountains and forests along the established route with three other villagers every three to four days.
The 5,780 acres of mountain forest in Baoping Village is Wang Zhi'an's home.
Figure 2 Wang Zhi'an's mountain patrol route on a certain day (Source/Wang Zhi'an)
Every morning, bringing dry food and water and applying potions to prevent poisonous insects along the way, Wang Zhi'an set off. Now, with smooth roads and convenient transportation, patrolling the mountains is no longer a chore. "The government is taking very good care of us now, handing us kettles, cookies or whatever, with a lot of gear."
Figure 3 Collective patrol on a certain day (Source/Wang Zhi'an)
Perhaps in the eyes of many people, forest rangering is an ideal or even romantic job – away from the hustle and bustle of the city, in full contact with nature, carefree. However, every time Wang Zhi'an, who is a ranger, goes up the mountain, his nerves will tense up, "looking at the six roads and listening to the eight directions." Sometimes in the rainy season, when encountering natural disasters such as landslides, Wang Zhian will work with nearby villagers to clean up the boulders and broken trees on the mountain, "every mountain to open the road, encounter the water to build a bridge."
Figure 4 Cleaning up the boulders scattered after the collapse (Source/Wang Zhi'an)
Forest protection needs to be adhered to for many years, especially forest fire prevention. Every year on December 1, Yunnan enters the forest and grassland fire prevention period, but as early as September and October, the dry season in Yunnan arrived, and the nerves of each forestry worker were tightened more, and the patrol time became longer and more frequent on the original basis. "We must pay attention to the forest fire prevention and put the most detailed work in place," Wang Zhian said of the importance of forest fire prevention, "we must prevent mountain fires, otherwise if they really burn, the government will spend a lot of money (to extinguish the fire), and the rangers will have big trouble." ”
On the mountain patrol road, Wang Zhian wanted to observe whether anyone was illegally using fire in the forest and stealing and poaching. With the government increasing its efforts to protect forests and strictly managing them, violations of laws and regulations have almost disappeared: "Now the villagers' legal awareness and environmental awareness have been enhanced, and there have been no forest fires in our village for a long time, and there are no incidents of illegal logging, poaching, and land reclamation." ”
At the same time, Wang Zhi'an also has to take care of the unique flowers and grasses in northwest Yunnan, "you see that orchid, very precious, can not be destroyed", "Yunnan pine is our pine species here, all year round is green, we want to prevent it from being illegally logged." Lijiang Yongsheng County is located on the southeast edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the obvious altitude difference gives it rich and multi-layered animal and plant resources. This is a gift from nature and a responsibility on Wang Zhi'an's shoulders.
Figure 5 Mountains and forests under Wang Zhi'an's lens (Source/Wang Zhi'an)
During the mountain patrol, Wang Zhi'an casually photographed the mountain forest he managed, and also recorded the daily work of himself and the people around him in the form of photos and videos: the fellow rangers asked the villagers passing by about the situation of carrying fire; three or four people went into the depths of the dense forest together, afraid of falling into an undiscovered hidden danger; standing on the hill, the wind whistled, and the birds sounded silent in the forest.
Figure 6 All personnel cleaning the road (Source/Wang Zhi'an)
In the face of this job, the family is very supportive, "they (referring to the family) never interfere with the patrol, and they understand my work very well and make all kinds of preparations for me." "At the same time, during the forest fire prevention period, the family also fully appreciates the hardships of the forest protection and fire prevention work." For the sake of ecology, we really have to take responsibility. ”
Spring and autumn come, year after year, Wang Zhi'an's heart has long been closely connected to this forest.