Pic story: planting trees on steep cliffs helps to restore ecological scenery of Daning River Basin in SW China's Chongqing

2022-August-2 11:13 By: GMW.cn

The summer scenery of the Wuxi Section of the Daning River in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality is quite beautiful, featuring numerous fish in the river, trees planted on both sides, and birds singing above. However, in the past, the cliffs on both sides of the river were almost barren due to serious rocky desertification, resulting in serious soil erosion and river water pollution to a certain extent, which became a "heart disease" of the local government.

At present, Wuxi County has implemented a series of ecological protection actions such as land greening, forest quality improvement, water resources protection, etc. by adhering to ecological priority and green development, and practicing the new development concept, so that the water quality of Daning River has been well protected, and the barren hills and butterflies on both sides of the river have become verdant. From rocky desertification and saline-alkali barren hills to the present-day clear water and green hills, a group of people who have been working tirelessly for ten years should be remembered guarding this mother river.

Volunteer to patrol the river

Cao Jianyuan, who is over seventy years old, is a volunteer river patrolman in Wanchun Village, the source of the Daning River. Every morning, he appears on the river to patrol the water on time. When he was young, Cao worked as a boatman in the Daning River Basin and ran on the river for most of his life. Now, with the development of local economy and traffic, local people no longer have to ferry by boat, and Cao has to say goodbye to the old days. However, Cao still cares about the Daning River which has been with him all his life.

With the local government's efforts to protect the water environment of Daning River, Cao, who has deep feelings for Daning River, took the initiative to apply to become a voluntary river patrol, guarding the river bank day and night. It became his daily work to supervise the water environment, assist in river regulation and teach the knowledge of ecological civilization. With Lao Cao's participation and witness, the Wuxi Section of Daning River has shut down 13 sand factories and two paper mills, renovated 12,600 square meters of rivers and built 24 township sewage treatment plants, thus effectively protecting the water environment. Thanks to the joint efforts of the local government and people like Cao, the water quality of the Wuxi Section of Daning River has maintained class-II all year round, and it even reached class-I for six months in 2019.

Planting trees on steep cliffs

Ningchang Town, Wuxi County was once a famous salt-making town. Although the salt factory has been closed for more than 20 years, the land with serious rocky desertification and salinization has become a "scar" on the mountain that is difficult to eliminate. In order to cure these "scars" on the cliffs, there are such a group of people in the local area who have devoted their lives to planting saplings on the rock walls and creating green forests. They are known as the "cliff tree planters". Lin Yunxi, who has worked in Guanshan Forest Farm for 38 years, is one of them. He recalled that in the past, trees on the mountain were used as fuel to boil salt, and vegetation was cut down on a large scale, so that rocky desertification and salinization of the land were once serious.

In the past ten years, Wuxi County decided to carry out the rocky desertification control project and build the ecological corridor of Daning River. In this way, Lin moved to Guanshan Forest Farm, became the oldest class monitor here, and began to lead his workers to plant trees on cliffs. The cliffs are steep and the vertical height of both sides reaches 300 meters. Lin Yunxi and his workers need to climb up without any protective measures. "Every catty of soil, every catty of water, every catty of sand, and every seedling needs to be carried on one's shoulders and carried up one by one," he said. The dangerous environment makes injuries a common occurrence. The scars on hipbones, ankles and arms witnessed Lin's hardships when planting trees on the cliffs, while the cliff scars turned into patches of green shade. A tree seedling grew into a big tree, which seemed to be a medal for him and his workmates, making him extremely proud.

With more and more trees planted by Lin and his workmates, the natural forest protection project of the forest farm has also begun to have positive effects. Now, the forest area of Wuxi County reaches 4.2 million mu, and the stock of living trees reaches 14.1 million cubic meters. He said that he would devote his whole life to planting trees for this homeland, and keep the mountains green for the future generations. With the care of people like Cao and Lin, the Daning River now flows with clear water, forming an ecological scenery for the Daning River basin.

Pic story: planting trees on steep cliffs helps to restore ecological scenery of Daning River Basin in SW China's Chongqing

Photo taken on Aug. 4, 2020 shows Cao Jianyuan boating to patrol the river in Daning River Basin, Wanchun Village, Wuxi County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Qiao Luoyang/Guangming Picture)

Pic story: planting trees on steep cliffs helps to restore ecological scenery of Daning River Basin in SW China's Chongqing

Photo taken on Aug. 4, 2020 shows Cao Jianyuan teaching ecological knowledge to local villagers in Daning River Basin, Wanchun Village, Wuxi County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Qiao Luoyang/Guangming Picture)

Pic story: planting trees on steep cliffs helps to restore ecological scenery of Daning River Basin in SW China's Chongqing

Photo taken on Aug. 18, 2018 shows the 3rd International Rafting Festival held on Daning River in Wuxi County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. Tourists took bamboo rafts to enjoy the scenery of Daning River Basin. (Photo provided to GMW.cn by the Propaganda Department of Wuxi County Committee of Chongqing)

Pic story: planting trees on steep cliffs helps to restore ecological scenery of Daning River Basin in SW China's Chongqing

Photo shows the misty scenery of the Ningchang Ancient Town in Wuxi County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo provided to GMW.cn by the Propaganda Department of Wuxi County Committee of Chongqing)

Pic story: planting trees on steep cliffs helps to restore ecological scenery of Daning River Basin in SW China's Chongqing

Photo shows a cruise ship sailing on the surface of the Daning River in Bailongmiao Gorge Scenic Area, Wuxi County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo provided to GMW.cn by the Propaganda Department of Wuxi County Committee of Chongqing)

Pic story: planting trees on steep cliffs helps to restore ecological scenery of Daning River Basin in SW China's Chongqing

Photo taken on June 14, 2022 shows a dragon boat competition held to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival and commemorate Qu Yuan on Daning River, Wuxi County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. Eight teams entered the competition, having attracted 100,000 people to watch. (Zhang Dini/Guangming Picture)

Editor: WXY
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