China News Agency, Urumqi, April 5th: The story of green in the cracks: continue to plant and protect the green to prevent the two deserts from closing

　　Author Qi Yaping Li Jiacheng

　　In spring, the weather is dry and the weather is dry. Wang Xianhua, a forest ranger from the 31st Regiment of the Second Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, often brings "newcomers" to the forest belt to clear weeds and prevent fires.

　　"Spring is here, we must do a good job of fire prevention." Wang Xianhua repeatedly urged.

　　The 31st Regiment is located in the Tarim Reclamation Area of ​​the Second Division of the Xinjiang Corps. It is adjacent to the Taklimakan Desert to the south and the Kumtag Desert to the north. The narrowest part of the two deserts is less than 3 kilometers.

　　In the mid-to-late 1990s, as the Tarim River continued to dry up, the two deserts approached and closed at a distance of two meters every year.

　　"In the past, the sandstorm was very strong, and when the wind was blowing, no one could be seen within 30 to 50 meters." Song Fortune, a staff member of the 31st Regiment Agricultural Development Service Center, still remembers it vividly.

　　In the face of the north and south invasion of the two deserts, the Xinjiang Corps began to plant trees continuously to change the ecological environment.

Wang Xianhua and others also joined the team of forest rangers in the group field, and continued to guard the green home on the edge of the desert.

　　Since 2000, the 31st Regiment has invested a total of 14.6 million yuan (RMB, the same below) to build an ecological forest with a length of 11 kilometers, a width of 200 meters and a total area of ​​3,300 mu in the gap between the two deserts.

　　After the shelterbelt was built, the seedlings were weak and needed people to take care of them. From this year, Wang Xianhua's family moved to the shelterbelt.

　　The forest ranger station is 5 kilometers away from people, and the traffic is inconvenient. Many areas are soft sand and there is no road. It takes at least an hour to go to the regiment.

The food is saline and alkaline water extracted from the ground, and the conditions are extremely difficult, and Wang Xianhua has lived there for more than 20 years.

　　"I'm not afraid of hardship." Wang Xianhua recalled, "When I first came, it was difficult for children to go to school and live at home. After a wind, my body was covered in sand, and I could not eat for a day."

　　Times have changed, and the long yellow sand in the past has now become full of greenery.

　　In 2018, the group invested more than 1.6 million yuan to build a 1.5-kilometer-long "people"-shaped plank road at the intersection of the ecological forest and the desert, which is convenient for tourists.

　　"Now there are 20 to 30 tourists every day, and everyone thinks that the ecological environment is good." Wang Xianhua said.

　　Next year, Wang Xianhua will retire.

"These tools will be handed over to you now. You must remember to check and maintain them frequently." While hoeing weeds, Wang Xianhua taught the "newcomers" the experience of forest protection in every detail.

　　Song Fortune, 40, returned to his hometown in 2002 and took the initiative to work at the forest management station. He took over the planting tools from his parents and participated in the sandstorm fight.

　　At the end of April 2019, the group will replant saplings and plan to install drip irrigation facilities for forest beds.

Song Fortune and several rangers set out at 8 am and went home at 9 pm to check the pipes and install drippers. They walked more than 30,000 steps in the desert every day.

　　"As a second-generation forester, I will continue to build ecological barriers and improve the environment of the group farms," ​​Song Fortune said.

　　Today, the green area of ​​the 31st Regiment has reached 216,000 mu, and the green barrier has gradually expanded between the two deserts.

The participation of the younger generation has also made planting green and protecting green successors.

　　"As a 'post-90s', seeing the ecological management of the group farm is so good, I also volunteered to join the green protection work and took over the responsibility of green protection from my predecessors." said Guo Yapeng, a newly hired forest ranger this year.

　　Most of the Xinjiang Corps' regiments are built on the edge of the desert, which is an important barrier to resist the wind and sand attack and protect the Xinjiang oasis.

Over the years, the Xinjiang Corps has gradually built a green ecological belt on the edge of the desert through continuous afforestation and effective protection of ecological forests, effectively resisting sandstorms, and continuously improving the ecological and human settlements.

　　In 2021, the Xinjiang Corps completed afforestation of more than 670,000 mu, an increase of 1.7 times over the previous year.

Added 610,000 mu of desertified land.

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