Protecting the beautiful home of the southernmost Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana)

The "tree planting expert" on the rocky slopes: Zhao Dingbao and the "bridge of life" of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys I. The first spade of soil on the cold slopes

In the early spring of 2018, on the northern slope of the Yunlong Tianchi Reserve at an altitude of 3,000 meters, the cold wind rolled the snow particles and hit Zhao Dingbao's face. The 42-year-old ranger was clutching a shovel and digging the first tree pit on the exposed rocky slope. Frozen soil is as hard as iron, each spade can only gnaw out a palm-sized gap, palms soon rubbed out blood blisters. "At that time, I thought, this place does not even grow grass, planting trees is a joke." Zhao Dingbao recalled.

At that time, the reserve had just started the Yunnan golden monkey corridor restoration project. The 10 kilometers of forest fragmentation in the north and south areas split the monkeys into isolated populations of more than 180 in Longma Mountain and 20 in Tianchi. "When the monkeys can't see each other, their genes will deteriorate, and the southern end of the population may disappear within 10 years." The words of the researchers are like stones pressing on Zhao Dingbao's heart. He is a native of the township of Cangtou, who grew up listening to the legend of the "snowy mountain elves", but has seen first-hand the poachers' traps and the felled firs.

The first batch of 500 spruce seedlings was planted, and less than 100 were left after a month. The survival rate was less than 20% due to unstable root systems caused by rabbits, wind and snow, and shallow soil. Zhao Dingbao squatted in front of the dead saplings, looking at the distant monkeys in the remnants of the forest difficult to forage, suddenly red-eyed: "can not let them like these saplings, in our hands can not survive."

Second, the stubbornness in the "four-step tree planting" method

In the next three years, Zhao Dingbao became a "nail household" on the rocky slope. Daybreak on the back of the saplings on the mountain, with steamed bread in the forest squatting all day, until the stars come out before going down the mountain in the dark. He found that ordinary tree planting method at high altitude simply does not work: "the soil is too loose, the wind will fall; pit is too shallow, the roots are not stable."

After a rainstorm, he saw a few wild firs standing next to the saplings that had been washed away. It was only when he peeled back the soil that he realized that the trees' roots were deeply embedded in the rocky crevices, and the soil around them had instead become a protective layer after being compacted by the rain. "So it's not that the mountain refuses to grow trees, it's that we don't understand the mountain's temperament." Zhao Dingbao was suddenly enlightened.

He began to test the "soil method": the pit was dug 80 centimeters deep (30 centimeters deeper than the conventional), the gravel was sifted out and mixed with humus; after the saplings were planted, the soil was stomped solidly with the feet, and then three stakes were driven, surrounded by barbed wire to prevent nibbling. This set of later summarized as "pond playing deep, soil tread solid, pile playing stable, wire mesh around tight" "four-step tree planting method", so that the survival rate of the 1,000 saplings planted in 2019 instantly mentioned 50%.

The most dangerous time, he was in order to rescue the saplings bent by the blizzard, slipped on a steep slope, rolled down the snowy slope for seven or eight meters, was stopped by an old tree. "Climbed up the first thing is to touch the sapling, found that not broken, the heart is more solid than anything." Now speak lightly, but the 10-centimeter scar on his wrist, but also left the traces of the rock cuts at that time.

From "forest ranger" to "tree doctor".

In 2021, Zhao Dingbao's tree planting area expanded to 822 mu. He no longer fights alone - the reserve formed a 20-member "afforestation commando", he became the technical guide. Every day, he took the team to the mountains, hand in hand to teach them to sieve soil, piling, shouting voice to hoarse. "Mr. Zhao's eyes are sharper than a microscope, and when the leaves of a tree turn yellow, he can tell whether it's lack of water or insect bites." said Xiao Li, a young member of the team. Young team member Xiao Li said.

In order to let the saplings grow strong, Zhao Dingbao followed the researchers to learn "plant nutrition". He found that the Huashan pine prefers acidic soil, so he collected pine needles to improve the soil; fir seedlings are afraid of the sun, so he planted high stalks of rowan next to the sun. He also buried bamboo tubes in the forest floor to regularly observe soil moisture, "The trees will 'tell' you when and how much to water."

In the summer of 2023, the first batch of spruce planted by his hands grew to a height of 2 meters. An infrared camera captured a Dian snub-nosed monkey climbing up the trunk to the canopy and picking pine cones to stuff in its mouth. Zhao Dingbao watched the video no less than 20 times: "Look at the way its paws grasp the trunk, just like touching the hands of its own child." That night, he wrote in his diary: "The tree is alive, the monkey came, this road is not in vain."

Fourth, the "talking" forest and unfulfilled promises

Nowadays, Zhao Dingbao has thousands of "growth photos" of saplings stored in his cell phone. He can accurately tell the age and survival rate of each forest, and even which tree hides a rabbit's nest. "I used to think that trees are just trees, but now I know that they can 'talk'-this piece of fir has a lot of fruits, which means that this year's rainfall is good; that piece of spruce has few new leaves, which means that the soil may not be fertilized enough."

Under the efforts of him and his colleagues, the reserve has accumulated more than 8900 mu of afforestation, planted 997,000 trees such as spruce and fir, and the survival rate has stabilized at more than 70%. On the once bare rocky slopes, seedlings are pulling up at a rate of 30 centimeters per year, and are expected to form a continuous canopy in 15 years, becoming the "Bridge of Life" connecting the monkeys in the north and south.

Last winter, Zhao Dingbao found a fresh trail of monkeys near the corridor, stretching all the way to the south. "Maybe in a few years, we'll see monkeys from the north with their young jumping from the trees we planted to the south." He looked at the cloudy mountains in the distance with a glint in his eye, "At that time, I'll hang a red banner on the tallest fir and tell them: this road, we've fixed it for you."