Taklamakan Rangers: Guard the green barrier of poplar forests

Taklamakan rangers

When it comes to his work, Aishan Ayiti obviously feels very faced. "My friends around me know that I work in the scenic area." He laughed and said in not yet fluent Chinese.

The "scenic spot" in the mouth of the 43-year-old Uyghur man is the poplar forest in Shaya County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Shaya County is located on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin, close to the Taklamakan Desert, and the Tarim River crosses the county seat from west to east. On both sides of the river, there are more than 290.<> million mu of primeval poplar forests, which are considered to be "the largest and most complete preserved in the world". Every autumn, a large number of tourists come from afar to see the poplar "layer of the forest".

"Beauty" is just an additional attribute of poplar. This rare tree in nature can overcome drought, salinity, high temperature, cold and almost all harsh environments to grow into forests, and the roots deep underground can tightly "grasp" the sand within a radius of 20 or 30 meters.

For Shaya County, which covers an area of eighty percent of the desert, poplar forests are the most important ecological barrier between desert and inhabited oases.

Guarding this green barrier is the work of Aishan Ayiti and many "poplar defenders".

From the forest farm to the conservation center

Hoes, pumps, leaflets, dry naan and water... One morning in early spring, Huyang steward Aishan Ayiti and his wife, Ugrem Momin, put together their equipment and prepared to start their day's patrol. The poplar forest is large, and at noon they can only feed themselves with dry food.

From October to April of the following year, it is the heaviest period for the management and protection of poplar forests in Shaya County. From autumn to spring plowing, local farmers are active in the forest area. The weather is dry and dry, and sometimes farmers set fire to weeds in the fields, obviously separated from the forest by a distance, "as soon as the wind blows, Mars may be brought over." Aishan Ayiti said.

Aishan Ayiti served as a soldier in his early years and later as a firefighter, and was a suitable candidate for the management of Poplar Forest. In 2021, Wugrem Momin quit his job as a kindergarten nurse in the county and went to the Dalang Tangmu Central Management Center of the Shaya County Forestry and Grassland Bureau to become a companion with her husband. Although the town of Hadedun, where the nursing center is located, is 70 kilometers away from the county seat, and the conditions are worse in all aspects, they are quite satisfied with being a "husband and wife partner".

"When it comes to conditions, it's much better now than it was then." Liu Jianyong, 58, joined the former Shaya Forest Farm in 1982. At that time, there was no detention center, and the forest farm workers went to the forest area to prepare a month's worth of dry food. At that time, there was no road from the county seat of Shaya to the Tarim River, and bicycles were the most "advanced" means of transportation. In the air are grains of sand blown up by the wind, and under the feet are dust raised by wheels. "Ride to the destination, and the 'people' become the 'natives'." Liu Jianyong recalled.

At that time, when forest farm workers went out to work, they had to plan which house they would go to every day. In the winter of 1996, Liu Jianyong and his colleagues encountered heavy snow on their patrol and got lost on a forest path. Thanks to an abandoned nest of herders nearby, the two picked up some dead branches and went to it to make a fire, both to keep warm and to prevent wild beasts, and carried it through the night. "The next day it was clear and we found a farm house 500 meters ahead." Liu Jianyong said.

In the first ten years of Liu Jianyong's work, Shaya Forest Farm also implemented the operation policy of "focusing on forestry and combining harvesting and breeding", and employees had to protect forests and harvest qualified poplar trees for external sales. As for the situation of farmers and herdsmen destroying forests to clear land and cut down trees for firewood near forest areas, it is more common.

In the local area, people of the younger age have this memory: every year when winter is approaching, their yards are piled up with large and small poplars. One winter, the family was able to burn the wood of several donkey carts.

Poplars grow in the desert, the trees are gone, and the sand that was originally "sealed" can "take off". In Liu Jianyong's impression, in the past few years, the blue sky was basically not visible for three months of spring every year, and "the eyes looking up were all sand and dust."

Liu Jianyong also cut down many poplar trees. At that time, he said, logging was work, and no one thought much about it, let alone the local people, who felt that there was anything to do with cutting trees and blowing sand.

In 1999, the Shaya Forest Farm completely stopped poplar logging. After another 10 years, the forest farm was renamed Shaya County Poplar Forest Management Station, and later renamed Shaya County Poplar Forest Protection Center.

Since then, as reflected in the change in the name of the unit, protecting poplar trees has been the main goal of Liu and his colleagues' work.

Not complicated, not easy

After using all his strength to lift up the motorcycle, Zhao Wenming couldn't help crying. It was 2005, and Zhao Wenming, a secondary school graduate, returned to Tarim Township, not far from home, to work as a caretaker.

The first thing after work is to follow your partner to familiarize yourself with the "territory" that you will patrol daily after that. That year, dirt roads in various townships in Shaya County were successively converted into gravel roads, and the transportation of the stewards was also upgraded to motorcycles. Despite this, the patrol road is still much more difficult than Zhao Wenming imagined.

In order to get a closer look at the poplar trees, the rangers spend most of their time navigating the forest paths. In some places, the road conditions are not good, so you have to push a motorcycle on foot. The first time he went out, the inexperienced Zhao Wenming stepped into the "sand nest" with one foot, and the sand did not reach his calf and stomach. When he pulled out hard, his other foot did not stand firm, and the whole person fell backwards and rolled several times in the sand.

"The glasses flew to the side, and the body was either mud or dirt." Zhao Wenming described the scene at that time. What broke him the most was when he came back to his senses and found that the lights of the motorcycle that had fallen on the side of the road had broken and the tires were deflated.

Zhao Wenming's family is in the countryside, and the motorcycle was specially bought by his father for him to work, which is also an important family possession. "I thought, why don't I find a separate job." Zhao Wenming said.

Poplar forest management is not complicated. Fire prevention, tree harvesting, wildlife poaching, and distributing leaflets to farmers and herdsmen along the route are basically all the daily work of stewards. But on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, it's not easy to do that.

In summer, there are high temperatures above 40°C from time to time in the forest area; In winter, the temperature drops to minus 20°C. Poplar forests are widely distributed, and each patrol may involve climbing over sand mountains, walking on ice, and crossing trails. Wrestling and car traps occur from time to time. There are many dead branches and stones on the road, which is easy to damage motorcycle tires, and over time, many stewards have learned to repair their own tires, and pumps have become a tool to carry with the car.

Along with the hard work comes loneliness. At the end of March, the poplars have not yet developed a new green color, and from a distance, the trees and sand together form a desolate gray picture. Except for a short tourist season, the poplar forest is silent most of the time, only the wind rustles the dead leaves on the ground. If you stay alone for a long time, you will feel oppressive and panic for no reason.

To ensure safety, the stewards go out in teams of two to patrol. "Sometimes at the end of the day, you don't see a third person." Aishan Ayiti said. Because of this, for a long time, where people have been in the area they are responsible for, and where people have been turned over, the stewards can see at a glance.

Zhao Wenming did not change jobs in the end. He said he grew up in a forest area and had seen many poplar trees destroyed or burned. "Think about it, it always makes sense to be a poplar protector." Speaking of this, Zhao Wenming's words changed, "But it's too expensive to spend a motorcycle." He smiled and raised his finger, "By now, I have broken 4 cars."

Keep people watching

From being an assistant police officer to passing the exam to becoming a police officer, and then becoming an instructor at the Hadedun Town Police Station of the Shaya County Public Security Bureau, Rehman Aheiti has worked in the poplar forest area of Shaya County for nearly 14 years. According to him, the most important thing to protect Hu Yang is to "keep an eye on people".

Every time the scenery of the poplar forest enters the best viewing period, Shaya County will allocate manpower to set up multiple checkpoints on all roads entering the forest area, and tourists are strictly prohibited from bringing fire into it. "During the tourist season, everyone is waiting for it, and it is not easy to 'watch people' in normal times." Rehman Aheiti said.

In 2009, Rehman Ahei mentioned working at a security checkpoint in the heart of the Hadedun Desert. There are usually two people at the checkpoint, and they have to maintain the security of a forest area with a total area of 2,5 square kilometers.

At that time, local transportation was extremely inconvenient, farmers and herdsmen did not have electricity in their earthen houses, and they had to rely on firewood for cooking, heating, and lighting. The dead branches around the dwelling are gone, and there is always someone trying to make it easier to cut down poplar trees. As for setting fire to weeds, dumping burned residues at will, etc., it is more common.

In forest areas, the relationship between people and trees is quite complicated. On the one hand, many village names are related to poplars translated into Chinese, but on the other hand, burning poplar wood for fire has continued a centuries-old tradition. In order to raise the awareness of farmers and herdsmen about environmental protection and fire prevention, Rehman Aheiti does not know how much time he spends on words, but every time ordinary people ask, "If I don't burn it, what will I burn?" he struggled. Coupled with the small manpower of the civilian assistant police in the desert at that time, the regional management division was not clear, and the protection of poplars had unexpected situations from time to time.

In the winter of 2014, a farmer dumped firewood residue that had not completely cooled after burning the stove into a garbage heap, only to be rekindled by the debris, which was blown by the wind, setting fire to poplar trees near the dump. By the time Rehman Aheiti and the others arrived, several poplars had already gone over the fire. According to the fire and wind at the time, a large area of the surrounding forest was in danger of burning.

Fortunately, there was a forklift under construction not far from the ignition point. "We had the driver dig out a barrier to stop the fire from spreading further." Although almost 10 years have passed, Rehman Aheiti still feels afraid when it comes to this incident.

In 2016, the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region launched the ecological protection action of poplar forest in the Tarim River Basin, focusing on improving the ecological resilience of poplar forest in the Tarim River Basin. In the same year, Hadedun Town, which accounts for about 78% of the total area of Shaya County, was established, and more forces, including public security, fire protection, forest area management and protection, were put into the protection of poplar forests, and the division of responsibilities of various departments was further clarified.

The protection of poplars has been strengthened, and the basic work of "keeping people in sight" must continue to advance. Hadedun has 254 permanent residents in 857 households, basically living on cotton and sheep farming. Gradually, both the police and the guards found that letting the people see the close connection between Hu Yang and their lives was more useful than any preaching.

"When you cut down the poplar tree, the grass under the tree is gone. What do your sheep eat without grass? ”

"Without the poplar forest, who will keep the cotton in the field from the dust?"

......

Over the past few years, as poplars and other desert plants have increased, the local ecology is changing. Especially after 2019, the water level of the Tarim River has increased significantly, and the area that can be moisturized by the river during the flood season has increased, and the grassland has also increased, and the sheep can eat their stomachs without having to travel far.

With more water, cotton irrigation is no longer a problem. Farmer Awahan Rehman's yard has a large cotton field behind his yard, and the income brought to his family by cotton alone in the past two years has exceeded 100,000 yuan.

After experiencing the tangible benefits, poplar forest protection is no longer "nothing to do" in the eyes of farmers and herdsmen. Coupled with the continuous progress of rural housing projects in Xinjiang, more and more households have switched to coal or electricity for heating and cooking, and it is rare for people to cut down poplars without permission.

Liu Jianyong is now the head of the fire prevention station in Gulbagh Township, Shaya County. In recent years, he has clearly felt that more local people have come to his door. "Whether it is to level the land, repair the fields or dig wells, everyone has developed the habit of reporting to the station to eliminate fire hazards." After working in the forest area for most of his life, Liu Jianyong was very emotional to see that the awareness of ecological protection was basically formed among ordinary people.

Grow green in the desert

Since being transferred to Hu Yang's Hometown Central Management Center in 2019 as the director, Abulahat Yiming has been "barred" with a well that was laid when the institute was built.

"It's salty water, you can't drink it." Abulahat Imin said locals told him that he was "probably" pumping fresh water one day. Abulahat Yiming believed, but until now, the well water is still salty. "No way, it's too short of water, and I have to continue pumping." He said in a tone that was half helpless and half unbeliever.

Before the "miracle" of turning saltwater into fresh water, the water source of this 8-person sanctuary could only rely on the outside world. Every half month, the village 18 kilometers away delivers water to the guardhouse, and every time the two guards with private cars come back from vacation, the car is filled with the most water.

As the director, Abulahat Imin also has to "part-time" water management, the water for washing vegetables can be washed, and the water that has been washed can be used for cleaning... In short, every drop of water must be used to the extreme.

Huyang's Hometown Central Care Center is the closest to the desert among the 20 current detention centers in Shaya County. There, in addition to the lack of water, electricity and even mobile phone communication are inconvenient. But as the infrastructure improves, conditions are slowly improving. For example, a few years ago, everyone had to put their mobile phones on the watchtower more than 20 meters high to have a signal, and now if you are lucky, you can also make calls and swipe videos on flat ground.

However, there is one thing that is particularly difficult to complete: "green".

For a long time after the completion of the Hu Yang Hometown Central Management Center, the courtyard was only gray and yellow. The former is a house, the latter is sand. The stewards found various saplings one after another, but they did not survive after planting them in the ground. "The salinity of the land here is too high." Abulahat Imin did not die, and tried to transform the soil to drain alkali. Finally, the date tree survived first and bloomed last year.

Also last year, the vine that was planted "through the hard work of all the staff" was born. But just as Abulahat Imin was about to "show off", the grapes were eaten by the workers who came to renovate the yard.

"There were 3 skewers in total, and they told me that it was very sweet, but it was too little!" Abulahat Iming's eyes widened, "Where are the grapes, that is proof that trees can be grown in the desert!" ”

It wasn't just Abulahat Imin who longed to grow green in the desert. In Shaya County, every spring, reforestation is a major event for the whole people. Since 2021, the county has completed afforestation of 13,8 mu. In 2023, 10,41 mu of new forests are planned.

With the advancement of science and technology, Shaya County has also begun to adopt a combination of fly seeding and artificial spreading to spread grass species with better stress resistance such as licorice, grass and tree, and camel vermia in flood overflow areas, so as to restore bare ground vegetation and improve vegetation coverage. Every year during the flood season, the Shaya County Poplar Forest Protection Center will carry out flood diversion and irrigation work. "Poplars live when they meet water, and over the years, poplars that were on the verge of dying because they couldn't drink water in the past have re-emerged, and small poplar trees have grown in some former forest clearings." Zhao Wenming said.

Up to now, the total area of forest and grass in Shaya County is 803,97,533 mu, including 33,175,95 mu of forest area, 64,<>,<> mu of natural grassland and <>,<> mu of other grassland.

Since 1999, Liu Jianyong has planted trees all over Shaya County, some of which he once harvested. He said he will continue to plant trees after retirement. "The more you plant, the more you can compensate for the damage caused by cutting down trees in the past."

"I just want to stay in the woods"

On March 3, Aksu Prefecture issued a sand- and windy weather warning, which made Zhao Wenming, who is already the head of the forest and grassland emergency fire brigade of the Shaya County Forestry and Grassland Bureau, tense his nerves: strong winds mean that the forest fire risk level will be increased.

However, compared with the past when it was entirely human, technology and systems have now played an important role in fire prevention in Shaya County. According to the data provided by the Shaya County Poplar Forest Protection Center, 22 monitoring points have been established in key forest areas in the county, and 24-hour "patrols" have been achieved through the information platform; On the main road entering the forest area, 6 fire prevention card points are set up on a regular basis, and the fire code of the real-name system reflects the situation of personnel in the forest area in real time. In the event of an abnormality, the relevant personnel can rush to the scene as quickly as possible.

The protection of poplar forests and other desert vegetation has also brought about changes in this southern Xinjiang county.

"One pound of soil a day, not enough to make up during the day and at night", this smooth slip that Zhao Wenming has known since childhood, was a true portrayal of the frequent and severe sand and dust weather in Shaya County. However, in recent years, as the density of trees has increased and the vegetation coverage has increased, the number of dust storms has decreased significantly.

When the Tarim River level rises, it in turn provides a source of replenishment for plants along its banks. Since 2016, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has organized the implementation of 78.97 billion cubic meters of ecological water replenishment in the Tarim River basin of the poplar forest reserve, affecting an area of 622.<> million mu. "There is a shortage of water on the edge of the desert, and with water, the area of the oasis can continue to expand." Rehman Aheiti said.

In April, poplar trees are about to spit out new shoots. In the village of Opukan in Hadedun township, villager Padam Ahyuli packs up his homestay. Because it is located in a poplar forest, this small village that was not noticed in the past has not only tourists, but also some painters and photographers who have been sketching and collecting styles here for a long time. Tourism income has become a new source of income for many people in the village.

The well water at the central nursing center in Hu Yang's hometown is still salty, but recently Abulahat Imin has seen several Tarim red deer pacing to the well to drink. "The environment has improved, the animals are coming, and it may not be far from pumping fresh water." The persistent director pondered.

Not long ago, the police of the Hadedun Town Police Station also encountered an animal during their patrol, which was an injured national second-class protected animal white swan. The White Swan was sent to the Dalang Tangmu Central Nursery, where Aishan Ayiti took care of it. He called the white swan "Big Bird" and every day when he returned from a patrol, the first thing he did was visit it in his backyard. "Big Bird's wounds have almost recovered and will be released in a few days." Aishan Ayiti said.

Aishan Ayiti loves to work with nature, both animals and plants. This is also an important reason why he is willing to be a caretaker. His mobile phone album contains the four seasons of the forest area, just to describe the "beauty" of Hu Yang, which is clearly beyond his Chinese expression ability.

After thinking for a while, Aishan Ayiti said slowly: "Sometimes, I want to stay in the forest and not leave." ”

Wu Duosi