Four years ago, in order to investigate the current situation of wild Siberian tigers and Siberian leopards, reporters visited Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture on the Sino-Russian border.
The Siberian tiger and the Siberian leopard, also known as the Siberian tiger and the Far East leopard, are mainly distributed in the forest areas of the Russian Far East and Northeast China.
Before 2015, there were about 500 confirmed wild Siberian tiger populations worldwide, and no more than 100 wild Siberian leopards. They were listed as endangered and critically endangered species in the world. It is the common mission of mankind to protect them.
More than a hundred years ago, in the forest area of Northeast China, there were Siberian tigers and leopards in Zengshan Mountains. However, after entering the 20th century, the forest was cut down in large numbers and ungulates such as roe deer, deer, and wild boar lost their food.
Human activities quickly destroyed the homes of tigers and leopards. Until the end of the last century, Siberian tigers and Siberian leopards almost disappeared in our country.
Since the end of the last century, China has gradually stopped deforestation, severely punished poaching, paid attention to vegetation restoration, and established natural reserves... After nearly two decades of restoration, some scientific research teams used infrared cameras to travel on the Sino-Russian border. The Siberian tigers and leopards were photographed one after another.
In 2013, the tiger and leopard research team at Beijing Normal University tracked an exciting scene: in the night, an adult tiger they were continuously tracking and monitoring calmly walked in front of the camera, followed by 4 cubs.
This tells the researchers that this wild Siberian tiger bred four cubs in one litter.
According to the joint monitoring results of the tiger and leopard research team of Beijing Normal University and Russian scientists, from 2014 to 2015, there were at least 38 Siberian tiger populations roaming in the Sino-Russian border protection area, and at least 91 Siberian leopards.
In the north of this area are wetlands, railways, roads and other human living facilities. The east and the south are adjacent to the ocean. More than a hundred Siberian tigers and leopards crowded in a narrow strip of less than 4,000 square kilometers. This area has become their isolated island. On the way to China, this wild Siberian tiger and leopard population will face collapse.
At a critical juncture, in 2017, China decided to establish a Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park with a total area of 14,600 square kilometers in this area.
On August 19 of that year, the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park system was launched under the vertical management of the National Forestry and Grass Administration.
Wild Siberian tiger and Siberian leopard are flagship species in temperate coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests.
The establishment of the national park means that taking the opportunity of restoring the Siberian tiger and leopard populations, a national action to restore forest ecology and protect biodiversity on a larger scale has begun.
Four years have passed, what changes have taken place in the wild animal populations in the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park?
Has the corridor of the Siberian tiger and leopard spread to the west opened up?
In mid-September 2021, the reporter came to the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park again.
For four years, Tao Congrong and his wife are still living in the Dahuanggou Forest Farm of Changbai Mountain Forest Industry Group at the junction of Hunchun City and Wangqing County. Tao Congrong, who had only seen tigers in painting since childhood, finally saw a live Siberian tiger for the first time a year ago.
Although Tao Congrong's wife Dou Yingxia has never encountered a tiger, she has seen the footprints of a Siberian tiger.
Around the same time, it was also in the Dahuanggou area. Tourists passing by also took pictures of Siberian tigers.
Not only can you see Siberian tigers in Dahuanggou, Siberian leopards also often meet people.
Dahuanggou is already the hinterland of the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park, more than 100 kilometers west of the Sino-Russian border area where the Siberian Tiger and Leopard were frequently active four years ago.
Here, Siberian tigers and leopards meet people so frequently, does it mean that they have really moved westward?
Since four years ago, Tang Xiaoping has been the chief planner of the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park.
Tang Xiaoping, Dean of the National Park Research Institute: If you follow the results, this picture can be seen more clearly.
The blue spot is the spot of the Siberian leopard we are monitoring, and the red spot is the spot of the Siberian tiger. In recent years, the spots of the tiger and leopard are basically advancing in depth.
Feng Limin has always been the field leader of the Tiger and Leopard Research Team at Beijing Normal University. They designed the first Siberian tiger family that settled in China eight years ago and designed it as the logo of the research team.
Feng Limin, associate professor of Beijing Normal University: In the past four years, not only have more and more female tigers settled in China, they have brought more cubs to the growth of our country's tiger and leopard population, and these cubs have been continuously strengthened in our protection. Under circumstances, its survivability has also been further improved.
We found that before the start of the pilot, the cubs could survive about 33%, but now the survival rate that can survive to adulthood has increased to more than 50%. This has also laid the foundation for the rapid growth of the tiger and leopard population in these years.
In February 2018, the Siberian Tiger and Leopard Monitoring and Research Center of the National Forestry and Grass Administration was listed at Beijing Normal University. In that year, Beijing Normal University invested about 10 million yuan to start the "world and sky" in the 500 square kilometers of the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park. The preliminary test of the integrated monitoring system integrates modern communications, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other high-tech means to realize real-time monitoring of information and dynamics of Northeast tigers, wild animals, and human activities.
After the successful small-scale experiment, the central government has successively invested about 500 million yuan to expand the scope of use of this system.
At present, nearly 30,000 infrared cameras have been installed in the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park, covering an area of 12,000 square kilometers, which is called the "Heaven, Earth and Air" integrated natural resource monitoring and management system.
It is the world's only real-time monitoring system that can achieve full coverage of large areas of national parks.
Every minute and every second, the system terminal control platform is reminding new discoveries of infrared cameras, and 30,000 cameras are capturing amazing pictures.
To date, this system has obtained more than 8 million pieces of video data, including 20,000 pieces of video data from the Northeast Tigers and Leopards.
In the latest promotional video released by the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration, the latest population data of the Siberian tiger and Siberian leopard in the park was announced.
From 2012 to 2014 before the establishment of the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park, the population of Siberian Tiger and Leopard in this area was only 27 and 42 respectively.
In the Dahuanggou area, the northeast tigers and leopards marching westward constantly. The "Tiandikong" system's camera has photographed more than a dozen different Siberian tigers. Through the "Tiandikong" system image recognition, three of them have been found to have settled here.
The Siberian tiger and leopard populations found in the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park already have their own territory.
Wild Siberian tigers and Siberian leopards are at the top of the forest food chain. Each settled Siberian tiger needs a territory of 100 to 400 square kilometers, which means that each additional Siberian tiger depends on the quality of the forest ecosystem within hundreds of square kilometers. Improvement.
In the forest, the abundance of ungulates is of decisive significance for the survival and reproduction of wild Siberian tigers and leopards.
Tao Congrong and his wife living in the forest farm experienced the changes around them firsthand.
The extremely rare scenes of predation by wild animals have been repeatedly captured by the "Sky, Earth and Sky" system. They intuitively tell people that there are more wild animals in the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park.
On this basis, researchers have also reached more rational conclusions.
This is a comparison chart of the image acquisition density of black bears in 2018 and the same period of this year.
This is from sika deer.
According to the data provided by the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration, during the pilot period, the relative abundance index of sika deer increased by 3.5 times, wild boar nearly doubled, and roe deer more than doubled.
Behind the rapid reproduction of ungulates is the improvement of forest vegetation quality.
During the pilot period, the forest stock in the national park increased by 5.2%.
Tao Congrong told us that there was not much rain this year near Dahuanggou Forest Farm, but his pine nuts had a bumper harvest.
Tao Congrong, an employee of Dahuanggou Forest Farm of Changbai Mountain Forest Industry Group: It doesn't rain for a long time. Generally, this (pine) pagoda would fall if it was so dry like in previous years. I was thinking about it this year. The water on our mountain was saturated.
Tao Congrong’s guess is not just an imagination. The forest turns surface runoff into underground runoff, which increases the water saturation in the soil. Even in years when there is little rain, it can provide enough water for plants.
Feng Limin, Associate Professor of Beijing Normal University: In fact, this also indicates that the forest ecosystem has improved. At the same time, the mountains, waters, forests, and the entire forest ecosystem have been comprehensively restored, and its biological diversity has been restored.
To maintain the integrity and authenticity of the huge area of the ecosystem is a challenge for any country. We have achieved this goal in the four years since the pilot national park system was launched. This also shows our protection of tigers and leopards. , A determination and strength for ecological protection.
In 2020, the National Forestry and Grass Administration conducted an assessment and acceptance of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park system.
The acceptance report shows that this place has become the only stable habitat and spreading provenance of wild Amur tigers and leopards in China.
This was almost unimaginable four years ago, when the ecological conditions and human activities here were not enough to meet the conditions for tigers and leopards to move west.
The bald ginseng field fragmented the forest.
The cover cruelly drove the wild animals to extinction.
Artificial afforestation makes the forest look lush again, but it loses its original vitality.
In the past four years, what has happened in this forest and what people have done to restore the ecology, the rapid growth of flora and fauna, and the double growth of tigers and leopards?
Four years later, when the reporter came to Wei Zailiang's ginseng field again, it had become a red pine forest.
Wei Zailiang told reporters that he dug up ginseng in advance as required after being included in the core reserve of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park. According to data provided by the Hunchun Forestry Bureau, in 2017, the area of ginseng planted in the local woodland was about 300 hectares. Years later, drones can barely take pictures of the ground above the forest in Hunchun.
Red pine is a coniferous tree that is encouraged to be planted during the trial period of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park system. Wei Zailiang chose it according to the national policy.
According to data released by the National Development and Reform Commission, during the pilot period, 2,130 hectares of forest land will be cleared and returned to forests within the scope of the park, and 2,000 hectares of red pine will be planted under the forest.
The ginseng fields on the mountain have disappeared, and the Korean pine forests have provided more food and living space for wild animals. But where did the ginseng farmers who used to work under forest ginseng go?
Forestry workers also made sacrifices for ecological construction.
In 2017, the country completely stopped commercial logging of natural forests, but Jilin Province had implemented it two years ago. The Tao Congrong and his wife, who used logging as a business, were not able to get full wages at one time.
The biggest threat to large wild animals in the forest comes from hunting gear.
After the logging ban, Tao Congrong changed from a lumberjack to a forest ranger, and his wife Dou Yingxia was also transferred to a natural forest protection project worker. Their job was to protect mountains and forests and wild animals, and clearing the mountains became the focus of their work.
Tao Congrong’s patrol team belongs to the Wangqing branch of Changbaishan Forest Industry Group. After the system was piloted, this company also performed the functions of the Wangqing branch of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration. There are 10 branches under the National Park Administration. It is added on the basis of the original branch of the forest industry enterprise and the government forestry department.
After the branch was established, it provided more support for the protection of natural resources in the park.
In 2017, the Hunchun branch of Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park was established, and the number of patrol team members has grown from 7 to 30 now.
After the system was piloted, the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration organized a special campaign to clear mountains and clear sets. During the pilot period, 10 branches conducted a total of more than 46,000 anti-poaching patrols.
In 2020, a third-party evaluation showed that the spotting rate of hunting suits in the sampling area was 0.008 per kilometer of patrol sample lines, which was about 80% lower than the initial period of the special operation.
In addition to hunting gear, theft also poses a threat to wildlife.
In June of this year, Hunchun Forest Police successfully cracked an illegal harvesting case.
Two hours later, the suspect was found.
In 2019, the Forest Public Security Bureau of Hunchun City was connected to the "Sky, Earth and Air" system, and 7,500 cameras in its jurisdiction provided all-round real-time image monitoring for forest public security personnel.
Severe crackdowns and hundreds of times of law popularization and education, Hunchun's forestry cases fell from 18 in 2019 to only 6 in the first three quarters of this year.
A total of 69 poaching cases have been cracked in the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park in the four years after the system was piloted.
Feng Limin, associate professor of Beijing Normal University: Real-time effective control and management. Now fewer and fewer people enter the mountains. In this way, a very quiet environment is provided for the survival of wild animals, and wild animals dare to engage in such activities that are relatively close to people. Now more and more animals are slowly approaching human activity areas.
The warning signs and slogans extending from the outside of the park to the inside of the park always remind passers-by that wild animals are getting closer.
On August 19, in Wangqing County of Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park, a Siberian leopard fainted on the side of the road and was dying. The news soon reached the Wangqing County Forest Public Security Bureau.
Wang Dawei, Forest Public Security Bureau of Wangqing County: Some animals are spiritual. According to the common people, when they go down the mountain, they hope people will save them.
Later we lifted him up from the ditch.
After carrying it up, it was checked for no obvious trauma, and then it was transported to Fuxing Town, Wangqing County for dehumidification treatment, because all the hair of this leopard was soaked in the water in the ditch, and the long-distance transportation was afraid that its body temperature would rise.
In addition to dehumidification for about two hours, it was loaded into an ambulance. We departed from Wangqing at 11 o'clock in the evening. The police of the forest public security and the staff of the wildlife protection station, including the medical staff of Wangqing County, walked seven times on the road. Hours, I arrived in Changchun City at 6 o'clock the next morning.
Experts have judged that this wild Northeast leopard has lost the ability to survive in the wild and is now being fostered in Changchun Zoo.
According to the statistics of the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration, from August 2017 to August 2020, a total of 188 wild animals were rescued in the park, of which 6 were national Class I protected animals and 63 were national Class II protected animals.
The Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park is located in the Changbai Alpine Mountains. From November to March of the following year, it is a freezing period. Wild animals have to experience 5 months of hard wintering.
Qu Li, Deputy Director of the Protection Division of the Wangqing Bureau: The heavy snow has covered its food, so in this case we have to carry out a lot of artificial supplementary feeding, by establishing supplementary feeding points, and then feeding corn and bean cakes every week. These feeds, to help them survive the winter.
A total of 541 supplementary feeding points have been set up in the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park. During the pilot period, a total of 755 tons of feed and 16 tons of feed salt were put in.
People take care of everything in the forest carefully, in order to create a high-quality habitat for wild animals. Under the same goal, forestry workers are best at planting and afforestation work is also undergoing changes.
Gao Yanmin, deputy director of Wangqing National Nature Reserve: We used to circle around the forest, now we circle around tigers and leopards. We use this to build a forest based on the standard of constructing a tiger and leopard habitat.
In the past four years, people here have put ecological protection as the top priority in order to create a real home for the Northeast tigers and leopards. However, it runs through two provinces and 6 counties and cities, including 22 townships and 107 administrative villages. In the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park, there are more than 90,000 people living here. This is also their home. On this corridor where the tiger and leopard enters west, what other difficulties are affecting the footsteps of the tiger and leopard, and the people living here How can we coexist harmoniously with wild animals?
Large-scale enclosures of woodland and free-range scalpers hinder the westward advance of Siberian tigers and leopards.
Feng Limin, associate professor of Beijing Normal University: This picture is a map of the distribution of tigers. Where there are fewer cattle, there are more tigers, and where there are more cattle, there are fewer tigers.
When the reporter once again came to the woodland where Liang Renzhe raised cattle four years ago, the former cowshed had been demolished.
According to the data provided by the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration, during the pilot period, more than 2,200 hectares of forest were cleared and restored, and about 200,000 meters of fences in the park were cleared, and the number of scalpers in the park was reduced by 50,000.
Feng Limin, associate professor of Beijing Normal University: The government and forestry and grass departments have taken many measures. Tens of thousands of cattle have been withdrawn from the mountains. This will provide a lot of living space for these herbivores.
There are currently 70,000 scalpers left in the park.
In fact, from the beginning of the national park system trial, government agencies have begun to advocate sub-mountain captivity instead of mountain stocking.
Wangqing County, a large scalper breeding county, has been preparing for the concentrated breeding of scalpers down the mountain since 2018.
This is a large and modern cattle breeding base outside the park. There are 71 cattle houses here, of which 10 are used for cattle in the national park, which can accommodate about 2,000 cattle in boarding.
But so far, no foster care agreement has been signed with any farmers.
Like Liu Yongzhong, many farmers gave up raising cattle for the first time, but more farmers are still on the sidelines.
According to the next plan, the local government will coordinate the central and local financial funds for the construction, and continue to guide the villagers to go down the mountain to raise cattle in captivity. So far, the site selection of 10 concentrated cattle breeding communities has been completed, and 9 demonstration villages have been established to carry out infrastructure construction.
In accordance with the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration's "Implementation Plan for Cattle Raising", five years will be passed to ensure that the existing free-range breeding scale in the area of Jilin Province involved in the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park will be significantly reduced.
Among the 90,000 registered population in the national park, there are more than 20,000 people living in forestry, and most of them still live on mountain forests.
Dou Yingxia once said that after the establishment of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard Park, wages have also stabilized.
In the past few years, workers have spent 100% of their expenses, and they can also do some side jobs in their spare time.
Tao Congrong's sideline business mainly comes from the 700 hectares of mountain forest contracted after the suspension of logging. They pay a certain contract fee. Every year, the forest allows them to gain something.
However, they also know in their hearts that because they are located in the core protection area of the national park, which is an important corridor for tigers and leopards to move westward, most of the production and business activities are forbidden, and the 700 hectares of mountain forest cannot allow them Keep contracting.
Wang Yue, Vice President of Forest Industry: Everyone can understand why there is a transitional period for this green water and green mountains. The original operation let it expire, and then it cannot be increased. So far, it is estimated that there will be another five or six. The year has basically expired, and it has alleviated everyone's confusion.
Tao Congrong’s family has been contracting for four years. They will not finish picking the pine cones every year, but will always leave some for the wild animals on the mountain. This is a spontaneous habit of people who live in the forest all year round.
Tao Congrong's family also raises dozens of boxes of bees and keeps bees. This is the only production activity that can be clearly operated in the core protection area of the national park planning.
In the general control areas of national parks, there are far fewer restrictions, which also provides the possibility for the development of local people's livelihood.
Fungus is a traditional agricultural industry in Wangqing County. As of September, 6 million bags have been produced this year.
The base material for planting fungus is composed of plastic and organic matter, which can be reused after being discarded.
Wangqing County was once a national-level poverty-stricken county. In Wangqing County, a national park, more than 4,000 poor people have just been lifted out of poverty. The development of industries will even affect the results of poverty alleviation.
Wang Quan is a big fungus grower in Wangqing County. He produced 500,000 pieces of fungus in the spring and autumn of this year, providing employment opportunities for hundreds of people.
Only by guiding the production and life of the people living on the forest to the bottom of the mountain can we create an undisturbed environment for wild animals, but this still requires a gradual process. In this process, conflicts between humans and wild animals are inevitable. .
The Changbaishan Forest Industry Group Bangshuhe Forest Farm Protection Station is located deep in the forest. Dozens of forest farm workers patrol the mountains and afforest here all year round and stand guard for wild animals. These simple shacks are a testimony to their hard work. The Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park system After the pilot, their working conditions have improved, but more and more wild animals have given them new distress.
Shangcao Mao Village is located in the border area where tigers and leopards are most concentrated, and the increasing frequency of animal accidents has troubled the villagers living there.
In the past two years, it was confirmed that villagers in Shangcao Mao Village had lost about 15 acres of crops due to wild boars.
The Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration has completed the draft of the "Management Measures for Compensation for Wild Animal Damages". In the future, the issue of wild animal accidents in national parks will be implemented in accordance with this management method.
In response to the various contradictions between the concentrated population living area and park management exposed during the trial period of the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park, combined with the terrain and the westward trajectory of the tiger and leopard, the regional plan of the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park will be adjusted in the near future. After the adjustment, the core protection areas of the east and west parts will be connected together.
Through the adjustment, the area of the core reserve has increased by more than 100 square kilometers, and some towns and villages of about 500 square kilometers with about 50,000 people living have been transferred out of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park.
Luozigou Town is a large agricultural town. After the planning adjustment, the cultivated land and the concentrated residential areas of residents have been delimited from the national park, while the forest is kept in the national park.
Luozigou Town is an old revolutionary zone with red tourism resources. On this basis, it can also develop eco-tourism with the help of its unique geographical location on the edge of the national park. It will become an entrance community of the national park.
In the planning of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park, a total of 14 entrance communities were designed. These places will be mainly used for natural ecological education, buffer the population in and out of the park, and at the same time promote the development of local people's livelihood.
In addition, the original tourist facilities in the park will also be used in new ways.
The Lanjia Grand Canyon Scenic Area in the Lanjia Forest Farm is one of them. After the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park system was piloted, the entire Lanjia Forest Farm was planned as the core protection area of the national park.
After adjustment and planning, nearly 1,800 hectares of forest, including the Lanjia Grand Canyon Scenic Area, will be designated as a general control area.
Wang Mingxin, Lanjia Forest Farm, Wangqing: From a commercial tourist attraction in the past, it has now been transformed into a public welfare missionary natural observation spot, mainly focusing on scientific research, missionary education, and natural ecological experience.
Tang Xiaoping, Dean of the National Park Research Institute: Our understanding of the natural world, especially the laws of tiger and leopard activities, is still very unclear so far. So we must build some bases in the core area or nearby. Make some space for scientific research testing and experience, so I think it is precisely a project that I must protect and manage.
After the start of the system pilot in 2017, any new projects in the national park will need to go through a strict approval process, which has caused difficulties for the development of Hunchun City, which has 78% of the national park's area.
This is an important border city in our country, and it is also an international cooperation demonstration zone with national strategic significance.
The Hun-Wu Expressway is one of the most important infrastructure projects in Hunchun. It connects the center of Hunchun to the Fangchuan border port. It is an important infrastructure for Hunchun City to open up cooperation and joint development with neighboring countries.
For the smooth flow of the Northeast Tigers and Leopards' westward corridors, the Hunwu Expressway was forced to suspend four years ago.
After continuous improvement, the revised Hunwu Expressway plan no longer passes through the national park.
Zhang Linguo, Mayor of the People’s Government of Hunchun City, Jilin Province: Because of the construction of the Tiger and Leopard Park, this time we deeply feel that the country will seek a very large common divisor in this area, whether it is ecological protection or local development. .
What is the greatest common divisor, and how to find the greatest common divisor, is the balance between humans and tigers in the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park.
In the past 100 years, due to the process of human industrialization, this balance has been constantly broken, and it is now being rebuilt.
Tang Xiaoping, Dean of the National Park Research Institute: We must respect nature before we can protect nature. We obtain the development foundation we need from the concept of nature. Therefore, it is the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. coexist.