Use the power of science and technology to create a green miracle in the desert

　 Ulan Buhe, one of the eight deserts in China, means "red bull" in Mongolian, with a total area of more than 15 million acres.

　　Dengkou County, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is located in the northeast of Ulan Buhe Desert, with a desert area of nearly 4.3 million mu, accounting for 77.3% of the total area of the county.

　　Today, after decades of governance, the forest coverage rate of Dengkou County has increased from 0.04% in the early 50s of the 20th century to 37.2%, and the annual sediment discharge to the Yellow River has decreased from more than 70 million tons to 3.7 million tons. Dengkou County has achieved a great change of "green into sand retreat".

　　Behind the great changes is the silent dedication of the vast number of scientific researchers at the Desert Forestry Experimental Center of the Chinese Academy of Forestry (hereinafter referred to as the "Desert Forestry Center") for decades. They have used the power of science and technology to create a green miracle in the desert, and used their youth to achieve the great cause of "green entering and retreating".

　　War Sands: They bring technology to the desert

　　In 1950, 308.5 acres of forests and more than 50,000 trees were the only "green foundation" in Dengkou County, and most of the remaining land was flooded by quicksand, and crops were often blown away by strong winds, with a yield of less than 100 catties per mu.

　　In 1959, the Chinese Academy of Sciences organized experts to inspect the desert along the Hexi Corridor for the first time, and set up six comprehensive experimental stations for desert control, one of which was Dengkou. This is the predecessor of the Sarin Center.

　　In 1979, the Chinese Academy of Forestry established the Inner Mongolia Dengkou Experimental Bureau in Dengkou County, demarcating 470,000 mu of state-owned land as an experimental area to carry out scientific research on desertification control.

　　In 1990, the Dengkou Experimental Bureau was officially renamed as the Desert Forestry Experimental Center of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, aiming to study and solve the relevant scientific and technological problems in the construction of forestry in arid areas, use advanced technology and equipment, apply and promote advanced technology at home and abroad, and carry out intermediate experiments to obtain the design data and parameters of large-scale production, so as to provide scientific basis and create a complete set of experience for the construction of the "Three Norths" shelterbelt system.

　　"Almost every day, there is a strong wind and sand, and the hair, face, and ears are full of dirt, and it is common for hats and scarves to be blown away." "Four taels of soil in a day, not enough to make up for it during the day." "Being able to live in a simple shed is much better than digging a hole in the soil, and there is no entertainment at night, so everyone tells each other stories about their families."

　　The first generation of Sarin people who came to Dengkou in the early days to devote themselves to the work of sand control still remember the details of their life and work vividly.

　　At that time, there was no good road in Dengkou, and the scientific researchers did not have sufficient rations or cars, so they relied on manual labor to transport measuring tools and construction equipment.

　　Is it bitter? Bitter, but we are here for the sand!

　　During the day, scientists carry levels, tripods and measuring instruments on their backs to complete the arduous 10-kilometer survey. At night, by the faint light of the kerosene lamp, 1 mm, 1 mm drawing, after the painting is finished, the picture is often in the second half of the night.

　　Day after day, the square tofu block-sized drawing on the experimental drawings was stunned to build a desert oasis with canals and seedlings.

　　The 470,000 acres of experimental sites are planned as 4 experimental fields, of which the second experimental field was once a natural desert pasture.

　　Since 1979, Gao Shangwu, the leader of the desert expedition team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has presided over the national research project "Research on the Effect of Large-scale Greening Projects on Environmental Quality" in the second experimental field, and built a modern desert forestry experimental base; After 10 years of efforts, 1,486.6 hectares of artificial oases with shelterbelts as the main body have been built, of which more than 36% are shelterbelts, patch forests, shrub forests and fruit trees.

　　The results show that the large-scale greening project has a significant effect on the environment, absorbing 10%-20% more short-wave radiation, reducing evaporation by 30%-40% in summer, reducing dust transfer in forest nets by 80%, reducing dust from distant upwind areas by 48%, and reducing atmospheric turbidity by 35%. In addition, great economic benefits have been achieved, with a 300-fold increase in income per hectare.

　　In 1990, the project was rated as a national leading level by the Ministry of Forestry and won the first prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ministry of Forestry.

　　The implementation and completion of the project in the Sarin Center has greatly improved the reputation of the Sarin Center, and also trained the scientific and technological team of the Sarin Center, and the scientific research level of scientific and technological personnel has been greatly improved.

　　Since its establishment, the Sarin Center has undertaken and participated in more than 180 key research projects of the state and the Ministry of Forestry (Bureau), international cooperation, and science and technology plans of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and has achieved a number of major scientific and technological achievements, won 15 scientific and technological awards at the national, provincial (ministry) and academic levels, edited and published 21 academic works, published more than 550 scientific and technological papers in academic journals at home and abroad, formulated and promulgated 6 technical regulations (standards), and authorized 18 patents.

　　Desertification control: form a high-quality ecological shelterbelt system

　　There's nothing more gratifying than locking up sand, but locking it requires strong support from scientific research, such as the selection of tree species.

　　The center has successfully selected and bred tree species suitable for local natural conditions, such as sea buckthorn and poplar, and selected drought-resistant and saline-alkali tolerant plants such as H. ammodendron, flower stick, S. canopy, S. salix, Tamarix, etc., laying a solid foundation for building a high-quality ecological shelterbelt system in Dengkou.

　　With the farmland shelterbelt network as the core, trees such as poplar and poplar of Xinjiang are planted around the farmland to form a forest belt, outside the forest belt is a windbreak and sand-blocking area dominated by shrubs and other excellent stress-resistant plants such as H. ammodendron, outside the shrub forest is a sand-sealing and grass-keeping area dominated by drought-tolerant sand-tolerant shrubs or semi-shrubs, and then there is a nature reserve area for conserving natural resources and maintaining desert ecosystems.

　　Such an ecological shelterbelt pattern safely guards the vast oasis, forming an ecological shelterbelt system with reasonable allocation, perfect structure and significant economic benefits, and completely cutting off the erosion channel of Ulan Bu and desert to the Hetao area and North China.

　　With the support of years of monitoring data, since the late 90s of the 20th century, the Sarin Center began to change the farmland shelterbelt model of "wide forest belt, large grid, and high water consumption" to a new farmland shelterbelt model of "narrow forest belt, small grid, and low water consumption".

　　After the change, the forest belt is mainly a "two rows and one belt" type shelter forest, which is arranged along the farmland irrigation canal, which has the comprehensive benefits of saving land, convenient irrigation, low construction and management costs, etc., which not only improves the land utilization rate, reduces the contradiction between forest and farmers, has a high survival rate, good growth, and early timber, but also irrigates the farmland while watering the forest belt, saving the cost of separate watering.

　　At present, more than 560,000 acres of farmland shelterbelts have been promoted in the county.

　　The area of the oasis has been expanding, the original barren soil has begun to have a certain productivity, and the ecological environment has changed from a vicious circle to a virtuous circle.

　　In 1994, Dengkou County played the slogan of "rebuilding a Hetao", and the development of land in Ulan Bu and desert rose, and the excellent varieties selected and bred by the Sarin Center were gradually popularized on a large scale.

　　From 1987 to 2006, Huang Quan, former director of the Institute of Forestry of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, joined the Sarin Center and led the research team of the Sarin Center to concentrate on the "research on the genetic improvement system of sea buckthorn".

　　Luo Hongmei, a girl from the south, is a member of the team, and has been following Huang Quan for a long time to study sea buckthorn in depth, and she is also a good hand at demonstrating and training sea buckthorn cuttings.

　　It is not easy to successfully breed good varieties, but Luo Hongmei has never given up: "There are two things that must withstand studying sea buckthorn, one is not afraid of being pricked by sea buckthorn, and the other is not afraid of being bitten by mosquitoes." It is impossible to carry out research on sea buckthorn without being pricked, and it is better to introduce less thorns in the introduction of sea buckthorn, while the offspring of sea buckthorn and hybrid combinations of Chinese sea buckthorn usually have many spines and many germinating forests, and it is often difficult to investigate the experimental forest. ”

　　Luo Hongmei, who said this, always walked in the front, holding pruning shears in her hand, and opening the way while cutting. Colleagues witnessed her change from her original white and delicate face to a black and red "sand face", and she also became a veritable sea buckthorn expert.

　　The seabuckthorn research group has overcome various difficulties, and the scientific research achievement "research on seabuckthorn genetic improvement system" won the first prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ministry of Forestry in 1996 and the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 1998. "Research on the Breeding and Adaptability of Seabuckthorn Varieties" won the first prize of the Science and Technology Award of the Chinese Academy of Forestry in 2009. "Seabuckthorn Genetic Improvement and Industrial Cultivation Technology Innovation" won the first prize of the 13th Liang Xi Forestry Science and Technology Award in 2023.

　　When selecting economic plants suitable for growing in sandy areas, researchers from the Sarin Center also set their sights on European plums and honeysuckle.

　　Ou Li is a unique medicinal plant of S. samphyte in the mainland, known as "calcium fruit", with a calcium content of up to 3.6 mg per gram of fresh fruit, ranking first in the fruit list, integrating fruit, medicine, flower and animal husbandry, and is a pioneer tree species of "short, flat and fast" in ecological construction in desertification areas.

　　In January 2015, the State Forestry Administration's forestry public welfare industry scientific research project "Research on the development technology of sand industry of ecological and economic plant Prunus olea" was officially launched, and tens of thousands of Prunus oleifera were introduced for the first time and planted in the greenhouse of the first experimental field. Soon Ou Li withered. The project team repeatedly researched and found that the reason was water: the salt content of well water for irrigation was too high.

　　After that, the team gradually explored a special management method, and the European plum plant showed good growth.

　　"Rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, rely on the water to eat the water." By planting economic plants such as prune, sea buckthorn and honeysuckle in suitable sandy land, the Sarin Center has successfully set up a model of "relying on sand to eat sand" for the local area.

　　In 2016, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration announced the "Second Batch of National Forest Germplasm Resource Bank List", and the "Seabuckthorn National Forest Germplasm Resource Bank" with the Sarin Center as the technical support unit was approved. In 2020, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration approved the construction of national forest germplasm resource bank such as sea buckthorn. Since its establishment, the Sarin Center has collected and preserved the germplasm resources of rare, endangered and endemic plants at home and abroad, mainly sea buckthorn, and established a system of monitoring, evaluation and utilization of germplasm resources, so as to serve the construction of the forestry ecological environment in mainland China.

　　Over the years, the Center has made a series of major scientific research achievements, such as the research on the genetic improvement system of seabuckthorn, the breeding and adaptability of seabuckthorn varieties, the technological innovation of seabuckthorn genetic improvement and industrial cultivation, the research on the role of large-scale greening projects on environmental quality, the selection of the optimization mode of windbreak and sand-fixing forest system and the construction of experimental demonstration areas, the series of technologies for monitoring vegetation changes in the "Three Norths" shelterbelt system, the selection of suitable tree species and stress resistance afforestation experiments in salinized sandy land, and the scientific prevention and control of desert in cognitive desert.

　　Use sand: explore the new business format of green and rich Tongxing

　　"If you go green, you will also get rich, and you will also get rich when you control desertification."

　　"To help the local people become truly rich, staying in their hometown and building their hometown is the last word."

　　In the new era, the Sarin Center and Dengkou County have joined hands to explore new ways, new methods and new models for sand control and get rich.

　　At the base of the 400,000 kilowatt "photovoltaic +" ecological governance project in Dengkou County, endless photovoltaic panels spread out in the desert like a blue ocean, and under the photovoltaic panels, the shuttle trees and caragana are full of vitality.

　　Photovoltaic sand control is another innovative exploration of human beings to use the desert and benefit from the desert.

　　"With more than 3,300 hours of sunshine per year, abundant solar energy resources and vast sandy areas, Dengkou County provides huge natural advantages for the development of the photovoltaic industry." Zhang Jingbo, deputy director of the Sarin Center, looked at the blue ocean of photovoltaic in front of him and sighed, "When designing and planning the photovoltaic array, the height of the array was raised to make reasonable use of the space under the panel. The desert is short of water, so when choosing tree species to be planted under the board, we should consider drought tolerance and sand fixation, and try to consider the economic value. ”

　　Today, excluding the cost and manual collection costs, the yield of Cistanche under the plate is 110 kilograms per mu, and the profit per mu is 600 yuan. Caragana is planted under the board, and the annual yield of fresh branches per mu is 1,500 kg after production, and the average annual profit of 1,300 mu is 830,000 yuan. Chinese medicinal materials such as Quinoa and licorice are planted under the board, and the profits per mu are 1732 yuan and 2416 yuan respectively.

　　With the cultivation of high-quality forage grass based on holy pasture, the cultivation of cistanche in shrub forests dominated by Saxony saxon, the planting of characteristic economic forests in sandy areas dominated by desert grapes and sea buckthorn, as well as eco-tourism based on wetlands and desert resources, the desert control industry in Dengkou is becoming increasingly diversified, and a green production chain has been successfully explored in the desert, which has firmly adsorbed farmers and herdsmen on the industrial chain, and has embarked on a new path of green and rich co-prosperity.

　　Time flies. More than 40 years have passed in a flash, and with technology, perseverance, courage and tenacity, the Sarin Center has carved out a vast new world in Ulan Bu and the desert, which has brought earth-shaking changes to Dengkou County.

　　The Sarin Center has been selected as "National Advanced Unit of Greening", "National Advanced Collective of Desertification Prevention and Control", "Unit with Outstanding Contribution to the Construction of the Three-North Shelterbelt System", "National Advanced Collective with Outstanding Contribution to Ecological Construction", etc.

　　Fearless of hardships and long-term achievements, the story of human sand is constantly being staged, and the green legend of science and technology sand control will continue to occur in the desert.

Source: China Green Times

Editor: Zhang Lu

Editor: Zhao Zongjie

Final review: Li Enguang

Director: Zhao Huiru