Visit to Sonam Dajie Nature Conservation Station: "Love" and "Dharma" jointly protect the "Tree of Life"

China News Service, Yushu, Qinghai, September 11th. Title: Visit to Suonandajie Nature Conservation Station: "Love" and "Dharma" jointly protect the "Tree of Life"

Author Liu Mengqing

Hoh Xil in early autumn is vast and vast. "Uh-huh..." Luozhou Wangsuo, a mountain ranger from Suonandajie Nature Reserve, called out into the distance, and several full-month-old Tibetan antelopes rushed towards him. "This is the lamb rescued this year." Luozhou Wangsuo told reporters, "Tibetan antelopes used to hide when they saw people, but now they are not afraid."

Recently, reporters visited Sonamdaje Nature Reserve. This is China's first anti-poaching frontline station established to protect Tibetan antelopes, and it is also the only provincial-level grassroots legislative contact point in Qinghai Province located in the hinterland of a national protected area. The mountain patrol members at the protection station are guarding with love and law, making this "tree of life" flourish.

From rampant poaching to no gunshots in more than ten years

In this year's popular TV series "The Tree of Life", the life-and-death struggle between mountain rangers and poachers was shocking. The "Bolamula" in the TV series is the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve in reality.

The average altitude of Hoh Xil exceeds 4,600 meters. It is called a "forbidden zone for human life" due to the high cold and lack of oxygen. However, it is also the home of rare wild animals such as Tibetan antelopes and snow leopards. In the 1990s, poachers swarmed here with guns, and the sound of gunfire tore through the wilderness.

In 1994, Jason Suonandajie, deputy secretary of the Zhiduo County Party Committee in Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province, was attacked by gangsters on his way to escort poachers and unfortunately died.

Sonam Dajie fell, but the fire of protection did not go out. Sonam Dajie's brother-in-law Zhaba Dorje volunteered to fight against poachers. Since then, generations of mountain patrol members and forest police officers have stepped in to build a line of defense.

In 1997, Sonamdaje Nature Conservation Station was established. In the same year, Hoh Xil was upgraded to a national nature reserve. In 2017, Qinghai Hoh Xil was included in the World Heritage List.

Thanks to the unremitting efforts of all parties, there have been no poaching incidents in Hoh Xil since 2009, and the number of Tibetan antelopes has increased from more than 20,000 to more than 70,000.

Guarding with love: When a mountain patrol member transforms into a Tibetan antelope "daddy"

At the Sonandaje Nature Reserve, there is a grassland surrounded by barbed wire. This is the Hoh Xil Tibetan Antelope Rescue Center, which is used to treat injured and lone Tibetan antelope calves.

Luozhou Wangsuo, who was surrounded by several small Tibetan antelopes, sat on the grass and rubbed his head with them affectionately. He told reporters: "In July this year, we rescued these six lambs from Zhuonai Lake. When they first arrived, they could still be held in their arms and fed four times a day, just like raising their own children."

The rescue center is like a "kindergarten" for Tibetan antelopes. As the lambs grow up, the team members will carry out rewilding training to reduce contact with the lambs and expand their range of activities. When the lambs can forage for food independently and identify dangers, these "dads" will let the lambs return to the wider wilderness.

In order to better protect rare wild animals such as Tibetan antelopes, Suonandajie Nature Reserve has also continued to expand its functions and become a comprehensive management and protection station integrating wildlife rescue, ecological patrol, scientific research and monitoring, and legal education.

Nowadays, technological means such as infrared cameras and drone monitoring have improved patrol efficiency. However, the hinterland of Hoh Xil is vast, and many places are inaccessible by vehicles. Mountain patrol members often can only walk there step by step. Regardless of spring, summer, autumn or winter, the mountain patrol team members always stick to the front line of patrolling: in summer, the swamps are muddy, and vehicles can easily get stuck in the mud and cannot move; in winter, it is freezing and snowy, and even wearing three layers of cotton-padded clothes is still difficult to withstand the biting cold.

During a patrol in the mountains, the vehicle Luozhou Wangsuo was riding in fell into a swamp. The car accident left him with multiple fractures in his arms and hips. When a reporter asked why he persisted, he said without hesitation: "Because he loves this land deeply."

Protected by law: Protection of the rule of law under the "Tree of Life"

In October 2023, Suonandajie Nature Protection Station was identified as the Qinghai provincial grassroots legislative contact point. The road to ecological protection in Hoh Xil has an increasingly clear background of the rule of law.

"Herdsmen know the changes in the pastures best, and truck drivers know the conditions along the highway best. We collect their opinions to provide grassroots voices for legislative work." The mountain patrol team member told reporters. The protection station innovated the "patrol + legislation" model, focusing on legislative solicitation, conducting visits and consultations simultaneously during inspections, and extensively gathering public opinion on the plateau.

At present, the conservation station has solicited opinions on regulations such as the "Qinghai Province National Ecological Civilization Highland Construction Regulations" and "Qinghai Province Regulations on Controlling Overloaded and Overloaded Cargo Transport Vehicles", sorting out the facts and summarizing opinions around practical issues such as plateau ecological management and protection, highway freight management, etc., to provide grassroots practical basis for legislative drafting.

In recent years, the number of tourists in Hoh Xil has increased, and the conservation station has also actively carried out legal education activities. Luozhou Wangsuo said that the mountain patrol team members explained the legal responsibilities and safety risks of illegal crossing and destruction of wildlife resources by distributing brochures and explaining cases on site.

In response to shortcomings such as unstable communications at high-altitude points, mountain closures due to heavy snow in winter, and weak professional legal force, Sonamdajie Nature Conservation Station also plans to add mobile liaison posts, form a team of ecological legislative informants, extend public opinion collection tentacles, and make up for the shortcomings of research in remote areas.

Every time during patrols, when he saw Tibetan antelopes foraging leisurely and the vast wilderness under the blue sky and white clouds, Luozhou Wangsuo would take pictures and record them. "I belong to this grassland, I protect it, and it is healing me."

Let the wilderness return to the wilderness, and let life protect life. Taking over the baton from their predecessors, the mountain patrol members are holding on with love and escorting with the law, so that every life can run freely in Hoh Xil.