In early winter in Yanshan, the early wind is gradually rising, but the water area of Puhe River in Kuancheng Manchu Autonomous County, Chengde, Hebei Province is very lively - the first batch of swans to arrive are either circling in the sky or perching for food. On the riverside promenade, citizens took pictures with their children, and photography enthusiasts also came to "freeze" this dynamic scene.
"Every season, swans come one after another to settle down." Si Zemin, a photography enthusiast who has been recording wild birds in the county all year round, said that in the early years, the water quality of the waterfall river was not very good, and migratory birds were rare. In recent years, the types and numbers of migratory birds have increased year by year. "Swans have extremely high requirements for the living environment. Their arrival shows that the overall ecology of the waterfall river has improved."
Behind this is an ecological transformation that has lasted for many years in Puhe. As a first-level tributary of the Luanhe River, an important river in North China, the Puhe River flows through 18 administrative villages in 5 towns in Kuancheng. It is the core water system of the county and a key area for local ecological management.
近年来，宽城深入践行“绿水青山就是金山银山”理念，持续推进环境治理与生态保护工作。 Through a series of measures such as shutting down polluting enterprises, treating rural sewage, restoring wetland ecological corridors, and implementing a "river chief + forest chief + ranger" grid patrol mechanism, the ecological environment quality in the county has been significantly improved.
"In order to maintain the results of governance, we implement regular river patrol sampling, regularly monitor key river sections and assessment sections, dynamically trace the source, and use data to protect clear water and clear flows." said Wang Hua, deputy director of the Environmental Monitoring Center of Kuancheng Manchu Autonomous County, Chengde City.
Wang Hua said that at present, the water quality of the four surface water assessment sections in the county has reached the standard throughout the year, and all of them have reached the water body standard of Class III and above.
In Kuancheng, county-level river and lake chiefs make overall arrangements, and village-level river and lake chiefs patrol rivers on a regular basis. Water affairs, ecological environment, forestry and grassland, agriculture and rural areas and other departments work together to regularly carry out special actions such as "four chaos" rectification of rivers, investigation of hidden flood hazards, and ecological management and protection of water systems. The management and protection of rivers and lakes has moved from extensive management and control to professionalization and refinement.
It is worth mentioning that in 2025, Kuancheng will take the lead in implementing the property-based management model of rivers and lakes in Chengde City, introducing a third-party professional management and maintenance team, and undertaking regular patrols of county rivers, water surface garbage cleanup, water system ecological maintenance and other tasks throughout the region, realizing the standardization and normalization of river and lake management and protection.
"We implement segmented contracts, and all daily sporadic garbage and minor hidden dangers are disposed of on the spot. Complex problems are reported as soon as possible and handled in a coordinated manner to ensure that the water quality of the entire river is clean, the environment is tidy, and the management and maintenance are stable." said Wang Aiguo, river and lake management officer of Chengde Songyuan Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.
To control water, we must also control the territory. Kuancheng breaks away from the traditional management thinking of dredging and controlling pollution alone, and coordinates soil and water conservation, ecological water replenishment, greening of the entire area, and takes multiple measures to restore the ecology of the river basin.
Hu Zhixin, head of the Water Ecology and Environment Section of the Kuancheng Manchu Autonomous County Branch of the Chengde Ecological Environment Bureau, said that a total of 3 million cubic meters of water has been supplied to the Puhe River, and more than 17,000 acres of forest have been completed. The vegetation coverage rate in the basin continues to rise, and the overall water source conservation, soil and water conservation, and ecological purification capabilities have been steadily enhanced.
According to reports, Kuancheng has unique geographical advantages, with high forest coverage and rich wetland resources.随着此间生态环境持续向好，不仅天鹅数量逐年增加，东方白鹳等珍稀鸟类也频繁现身。
从“鲜见候鸟”到“天鹅落脚”，如今水清岸绿、飞鸟翩跹的瀑河，已成为宽城的生态名片。
