Wearing green attire on Flame Mountain! Ecological Restoration "Painting" Green Scroll Community | Water Pine | Restoration

Danjiangkou: Wearing Green Clothes on "Flame Mountain"

Danjiangkou City, Hubei Province, is the core water source of China's South to North Water Diversion Project. It is adjacent to the reservoir town of Danjiangkou Reservoir - Shigu Town. There is a Danxia landform called "Flame Mountain". In the early years, due to excessive logging and grazing, the mountains, forests, and rocky desertification were severe. In recent years, through continuous ecological restoration and small watershed management, the former Flame Mountain has now been put on a green robe and integrated system governance has been carried out in the local area.

Once a barren land, now lush and lush

Yuhuangding Village, located in Shigu Town, Danjiangkou City, is a typical Danxia landform. The soil color is red, and there is another reason besides the color. In the past, due to excessive logging and grazing, the area of rocky desertification here reached 3800 hectares, making it the most severely affected area of rocky desertification in the entire Danjiangkou City. In summer, the reddish brown mountains emit rolling heat waves, which look like raging flames from a distance.

The soil layer here is extremely thin, and the soil and water are prone to erosion, making it difficult for trees to grow. After on-site inspection, experts once asserted that this place is not suitable for afforestation and will forever become a "barren land".

However, there is already a lot of greenery on this mountain now. Looking at the comparison ↑, this picture is the "Flame Mountain" before ecological restoration. Is it quite different from now?

There are unique techniques for digging pits, moving soil, and building stones for ecological restoration

How did this mountain, which is claimed to be an eternal "barren land", dress up in green?

The "Flame Mountain" runs through water, soil, and fertilizer, and conventional tree planting methods are difficult to survive. It must break through conventional methods. The local people have also gone through very difficult exploration. Based on the terrain and landforms, after repeated experiments, they finally found a set of methods, which can be summarized into three words: digging pits, moving soil, and laying stones.

Now, the staff of the local forestry department are carrying out these tasks. Due to the steep slope and slippery surface, they cannot stand on the slope at all. Therefore, they can only tie ropes to their bodies, fix them to the trees on the mountaintop, climb down the slope to a fixed position, plant steel bars, lay grass and trees, and create artificial tree nests.

Some people also take soil suitable for tree growth from the surrounding abandoned soil fields and transport it up the mountain to fill the tree nests, in order to increase the survival rate. As for masonry, the staff stacked larger stones layer by layer in the ravines to prevent soil loss during rain. With this complete "health care" program, the survival rate of seedlings can be significantly improved.

Planting over 1.8 million seedlings, increasing forest coverage by 0.4 percentage points

These comprehensive control projects for rocky desertification were officially launched in 2011. Now, more than 1.8 million drought resistant seedlings such as Platycladus orientalis and Ligustrum lucidum have been planted on this hard and barren "Flame Mountain". With the perseverance of "planting trees in the cracks of stones", a total of 3300 hectares of barren mountains have been afforestation, 5300 hectares have been closed for afforestation, and the forest coverage in the entire town has increased by 0.4 percentage points.

And the local people are also beneficiaries of the "Beautiful China Construction", because the control of rocky desertification has been effective, water sources have been conserved, and Shigu Town has also developed green industries with soil conditions. At present, the expansion of rocky desertification in Shigu Town has been effectively curbed, with the area of rocky desertification decreasing year by year, the overall optimization of forest vegetation structure, and significant improvement in ecological environment protection. This has played an important role in stabilizing and meeting the water quality standards in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Area, and ensuring the sustainable northward movement of clean water in one reservoir.

Discovering the largest natural regeneration community of wild Chinese pine in the country

Water pine, known as the "living fossil" of the plant kingdom, is a relic plant of the glacial century. It is a unique tree species in China and also a rare wild plant species under national first-class protection. In the Red List of Endangered Species by the World Conservation Union, water pine is rated as "critically endangered". Since last year, researchers from Fujian Academy of Forestry have conducted a survey of water pine resources throughout the province. Just a few days ago, they discovered a water pine community in Gancuo Village, Xilan Township, Luoyuan County, Fuzhou City, covering an area of approximately 81 acres. It was confirmed to be the largest natural regeneration community of wild water pine in the country.

Through aerial photography, the entire water pine community is distributed in a strip shape, covering an area of approximately 81 acres. It includes 76 water pine plants and a certain number of seedlings.

What is the significance of the discovery of this water pine community?

Huang Yongrong, the person in charge of the Pinus massoniana project at the Fujian Academy of Forestry Sciences: Fujian Province is the main distribution area of wild Pinus massoniana communities. Since last year, our team has investigated the Pinus massoniana resources in Fujian and found that all wild populations are aging and declining, with poor natural regeneration and hindered reproduction. The Pinus massoniana community in Gancuo Village is currently the largest natural regeneration wild Pinus massoniana community in China. The discovery of this community has significant reference significance for our research on Pinus massoniana conservation.

The discovery of this water pine community is partly due to the local protection of wildlife and plants. According to the reporter's understanding, starting from 2016, Luoyuan County has listed and protected 253 ancient trees and famous trees throughout the county, established records of wild animal and plant resources, and severely cracked down on illegal and criminal activities related to wild animals and plants.

On the other hand, continuous comprehensive management of the ecological environment has also provided a good environmental foundation for the survival of this water pine community. Since 2016, Luoyuan County has shut down 117 granite mines and continued to implement ecological protection and restoration of forests, fields, lakes, and grasslands, as well as comprehensive water environment management upstream of the water pine community. These have provided high-quality water sources and living environments for the water pine community.

After the discovery of this water pine community, the local government also decided to establish a water pine forest nature reserve here, strictly following relevant laws and regulations, reducing human interference, and strengthening protection and management.