"It is less than the number of giant pandas, and the rangers need more fresh blood"
Mountain patrol "chasing" pandas for 30 years, he and his team won the International Ranger Award
On March 12, the Arbor Day, the land of Tianfu was green.
Panda is the most popular IP in Chengdu, and it is also the best witness to the ecological environment of this park city under the snowy mountains.
If you look around the city, you will find images of pandas everywhere.
At the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity last year, China announced the establishment of the Giant Panda National Park to the world. At the beginning of this year, the expansion area of the panda base opened its doors to welcome guests, which made pandas popular again.
From now on, Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News will launch a series of reports on "The City of Pandas and Me", approaching those who have become attached to pandas in this city and telling moving stories about pandas and them.
At the end of last year, Shi Xiaogang, the head of the Mujiangping Conservation Station in the Wolong Area of the Giant Panda National Park, went to Chengdu to participate in the interview and assessment of senior engineers.
Black jacket and windproof pants, Shi Xiaogang is still the attire when walking in the wild.
At that time, it was less than ten days before 2022, and he was about to usher in his 30th year in Wolong.
Just in the past 2021, his team shined on the international stage like a giant panda and won the International Ranger Award.
After graduating from the Sichuan Forestry School in 1992, Shi Xiaogang, 50, plunged headlong into the virgin forest of Wolong, Sichuan.
He participated in the third and fourth national surveys of giant pandas successively, and talked about encountering giant pandas in the wild with a calm tone.
"Our rangers have basically met wild giant pandas, and many people have taken pictures with their mobile phones." Shi Xiaogang said with a smile, this is the "welfare" of their unit, and the next one may be the snow leopard.
Patrol change
Camouflage uniforms changed to jackets and infrared cameras "shotguns for guns"
"How can there be such a thing before?" Speaking of the changes, Shi Xiaogang tugged at the jacket on his body and recalled that in the past, the patrol only had camouflage uniforms, and the tents were set up with oil-colored cloth.
Speaking of the cold, Shi Xiaogang still had a fresh memory. Once they got lost in the mountains and did not come out until the weather cleared up on the third day.
"It was cold and hungry at the time. In order to satisfy hunger, the roots of the tree were digging up to eat, and there was a little soil on the roots, which was bitter and astringent." Shi Xiaogang said, everyone tore the oil paint cloth into strips and wrapped them around the body to keep warm.
They walked out of the forest and followed the road to an apiary.
The owner of the bee farm gave him a handful of sugar; after walking for a while, he came across a restaurant where everyone asked for half a catty of noodles, but basically they were full after just one bite.
In addition to jackets, tents, etc., there is also an upgrade of the same equipment, so that more and more wild animals appear in people's field of vision - infrared cameras.
"On the one hand, it is because the protection efforts continue to increase and the ecological environment is getting better and better. The investigation of animal ecological learning and habitat provides a lot of valuable basic data.
The infrared cameras are working 24 hours a day and can continuously monitor the same location at a fixed point. The results obtained by each infrared camera are like a puzzle piece in a huge ecosystem in the wild.
When the number is sufficient, researchers can understand the whole picture through analysis.
Shi Xiaogang recalled that around 2005, infrared cameras were still rare and used in very few places. Each set cost 5,000 to 6,000 yuan, and the performance of moisture-proof, frost-proof, and shooting effects was not stable.
At that time, film was still used, and one camera could only take 20 or 30 photos, and the staff needed to replace the film every month or less.
Nowadays, infrared cameras are all digital, and it is no problem to take thousands of pictures and videos at a time. The staff can take them every quarter or half a year.
The change of the mountain
The gunshots in the forest disappeared, and the ranger went from behind the scenes to the front
In addition to the equipment that has changed, there are also the mountains they patrol.
"At that time, when you entered the mountain, you would hear gunshots, and there were traps and hunting sets on the ground." Shi Xiaogang said, as the aborigines in the mountains gradually moved to the outer areas to operate homestays and farmhouses, the gunfire in the mountains gradually disappeared, and the traps on the ground gradually disappeared. There are also fewer and fewer hunting sets, and they are basically invisible now.
As hunters get older, their descendants have more options.
The animal world in the forest has returned to its original appearance.
From 2016 to 2018, Shi Xiaogang and his colleagues collected giant panda feces for DNA identification, and initially estimated that there were 149 giant pandas in Wolong.
"It should be said that there are at least 149, and there may be a small number of 'fish that slip through the net' that have not been found when collecting feces." Shi Xiaogang said with a smile.
After the establishment of the Giant Panda National Park last year, more attention has been paid to these animal worlds away from the crowd, and rangers have also stepped forward from behind the scenes.
Last year, the Mujiangping Conservation Station where Shi Xiaogang was located shined on the international stage and won the International Ranger Award.
The International Ranger Award was jointly established in 2020 by the IUCN World Conservation Commission and the International Rangers Alliance to reward rangers who have made outstanding contributions to various nature reserves around the world.
When asked about the rangers, Shi Xiaogang said that they are fewer than the number of giant pandas.
Most of the players he brought were between 30 and 40 years old, including three or four young college students.
"They all like the wild and animals very much, otherwise it will be difficult to persevere." Shi Xiaogang explained that the field patrol is very hard, and it is not as romantic as everyone thinks.
The physical skills of the rangers are already very good, but they are still too tired to look at the scenery.
For more people, just walking around can be exhausting.
When you use your hands and feet together in the wild and you are in a state of embarrassment, no matter how beautiful the scenery is, it is superfluous.
The attention brought by the establishment of the Giant Panda National Park also gave Shi Xiaogang the hope of expanding the team of rangers.
"The rangers need more fresh blood," he said.
personal change
In addition to chasing pandas, but also chasing snow leopards
Settled down in Dujiangyan
From youth to middle age, Shi Xiaogang, after chasing giant pandas for more than 20 years, has a new target, the snow leopard.
"When the snow leopard is in heat, the sound is a bit like a cat, but it sounds more vigorous." Shi Xiaogang said that the snow leopard is in heat from December to January every year.
After chasing them for more than three years, he and his colleagues have not seen them in the wild, only heard their calls.
Snow leopard's gray-white protective color and vigorous skills allow it to hide silently in the plateau desert, making it hard to find a trace.
Giant pandas generally live in an area of more than 2,000 meters above sea level, and the highest may appear at an altitude of more than 3,500 meters above sea level.
The area of more than 3,500 meters above sea level is the "starting height" for snow leopards, and they may appear at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters or even more than 5,000 meters above sea level.
In addition to forests and plateaus and deserts, this "upper level" change has brought unimaginable difficulties to the rangers.
"Drive to the nearest highway, get off the car and walk to the target area. It will take at least four or five days on one side. After arriving, you will have to complete a 1-kilometer vertical climb every day." When it comes to these, Shi Xiaogang can't stop shaking his head, it's difficult, it's too difficult .
The rangers set off from the base camp at an altitude of about 3,000 meters with oxygen cylinders on their backs at six or seven in the morning.
It is said to be the base camp, but it is actually a temporary shed used by herdsmen.
In the process of going all the way up, the rangers have to face the steepest slopes of forty or fifty degrees, seventy or eighty degrees or even ninety degrees at the steepest.
In addition, they had to go down the mountain and rush back to the base camp before dark, usually at 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening.
"You have to go down the mountain, or you will freeze to death." Shi Xiaogang explained that the temperature above would drop to minus ten degrees or even minus twenty degrees at night.
Today, Shi Xiaogang, whose hometown is in Chongqing, has settled down in Dujiangyan, Chengdu.
Some areas in Chengdu have also been included in the Giant Panda National Park. In Shi Xiaogang's view, it is equally important to let more people know about it while protecting it.
Through the popularity of Chengdu, more people can experience the magnificent nature and learn about precious wild animals such as giant pandas. Chengdu itself is a good bridge.
The indissoluble bond between Chengdu and giant pandas is also a microcosm of the close connection between Chengdu and nature.
Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Lin Cong