In fact, it is not just the Three-North Shelterbelt and other shelterbelts. In the greening of northern cities, fast-growing poplars are also widely used for greening because of their high survival rate, fast growth rate, and low price.
But the result of this is that in April and May every year, a large number of "white hairs" wreak havoc in the world, causing major trouble to the citizens. These lint are flying like falling snow. Do not dare to open doors and windows, which seriously interferes with your vision. You must always pay attention to safety even when walking.
Moreover, it is extremely flammable and can easily cause fires, posing hidden dangers to public safety. Some citizens who are allergic to willow catkins are even more miserable. These can irritate and aggravate respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic bronchitis, which are detrimental to health. It can even interfere with industrial production and scientific research activities, affecting the accuracy of precision instrument measurements.
Now the municipal departments of various cities have also realized the disadvantages of this kind of fast-growing poplar, but too many were planted before, the quantity was too large, and most of them have already become forests and become useful materials. It is basically impossible to cut and remove it all at once, the only way is to slowly replace it.
In response to the current problem of flying catkins of these fast-growing poplars, the municipal department has also made a lot of efforts, the most important of which is to "sterilize" these fast-growing poplars.
There are three main types of sterilization operations for fast-growing poplars. One is to spray pesticides on these fast-growing poplars during the flowering season in April and May every year to inhibit their flowering, thereby controlling the problem of flying catkins.
The second type is similar to the first one, except that it uses tree girdling technology to inhibit the blooming of these fast-growing poplars.
The first two are temporary treatments and basically need to be treated once a year, so they are time-consuming and labor-intensive. The third method is more direct. Use the grafting method to graft the fast-growing poplar to other tree species, so that the fast-growing poplar will not produce buds.
But for this kind of protective forest in the desert, there is no need to be so troublesome. Prevention in cities also needs to consider crowd factors, but here there is no need. According to Du Xiuming, in April and May every year, it is simple and trouble-free to arrange relevant helicopter flights to spray the pesticides in one go.
Moreover, in a desert area like this, with sparsely populated areas, there seems to be no need to consider the impact of flying catkins.
Wu Hao's last stop on the farm was at a water conservancy facility 40 to 50 kilometers away. This water conservancy facility already existed. But because of the launch of Wu Hao's smart unmanned farm project, this place will also be expanded and renovated.
A water pipeline will soon be extended from here to the farm to provide water for irrigation of the farm's crops.
Of course, this is a desert, not a hinterland, so water sources are crucial for both humans, animals and crops.
In order to attract Wu Hao and others to build the farm at Iron Gate, the Second Division sacrificed a lot of money and voluntarily gave this water conservancy facility to Wu Hao and others.
And after Wu Hao and the others determined the site, they couldn't just take over and use it in vain. They still understand the principle of returning a peach in return.
He immediately promised to invest in the reconstruction of this water conservancy facility so that it could meet the needs of Wu Hao and the original irrigation users.
Although Iron Gate is located in the desert, there is actually water. Every spring and summer, melted glacier water from Kunlun flows here, forming an oasis in Iron Gate.
Therefore, Tiemen has been an important town and military pass throughout the ages. You must know that in this arid desert area, whoever controls the water source controls everything, so it has also become an important pass town in ancient times.
Of course, this function has been lost now, but that does not prevent it from being an important town in the desert.
In addition to bringing people water and crop irrigation, a large part of the rivers flowing through here actually flow into the desert and then disappear. These are what we often call inland rivers and seasonal rivers.
The famous Tarim River belongs to this kind, and there are many other rivers like this in the desert of southern Xinjiang along the foot of Kunlun.
However, in the past, as people continued to use more water and the irrigation methods were backward and crude, many rivers dried up.
With industrial adjustment, irrigation technology upgrades, and related protection over the years, many rivers have resumed flowing.
Wu Hao and his team's renovation of this water conservancy facility is actually to expand the capacity of the water conservancy facility to prevent overuse from drying up the place.
Wu Hao originally thought that this water conservancy facility was a dam and reservoir, but when he arrived, he discovered that this was not the case at all.
This water conservancy facility is a dam, but this dam is different from the dams we usually see.
To put it simply, this is an artificially cultivated oasis wetland, a wetland full of Populus euphratica. According to the person in charge here, this dam was built in the 1950s and 1960s and was originally used for irrigation.
At that time, in order to prevent excessive evaporation, some Populus euphratica forests were planted in the dam, both to conserve water and to prevent evaporation.
But unexpectedly, the Populus euphratica here slowly began to multiply and grow, gradually covering the entire dam, forming a large area of Populus euphratica.
And slowly along the water's edge, some reeds and aquatic plants also grew. The Corps veterans who came from the mainland saw this and tried to raise fish in the dam. Unexpectedly, they succeeded in raising fish.
With water, fish, aquatic plants and poplar trees, many birds are attracted. This has now made it an important natural ecological wetland reserve in the entire Western Xinjiang, and a special protection station has been set up.
Although it has become an ecological wetland reserve, in order to meet the drinking water and agricultural irrigation needs of the surrounding and downstream people, the dam is still in operation, providing water sources downstream and surrounding areas.
However, it is controlled within a reasonable range every year and must not affect the ecological environment here.
The main purpose of this reconstruction is to expand the capacity. On the one hand, it is to dredge the sediment under some rivers and waters to increase the storage capacity. On the other side, it is to expand the entire wetland area, thereby further increasing the storage capacity and moisture content of the wetland.
Therefore, the entire reconstruction process is very troublesome. It is not just about investing money in construction, but also considering ecological issues. Even for the entire dam expansion project, they have been criticized by some ecological protection experts.
But this is a real need, and such a large project cannot be stalled just because of a few criticisms from these experts.
Therefore, the approach adopted by Wu Hao and others was to involve these ecological protection experts in the dam expansion project, allowing them to provide advice and play their role in minimizing the adverse impact on this ecological wetland reserve.
[After checking relevant information, there are indeed such wetlands in some areas of southern Xinjiang. Not only are there fish, but there are also unique canoes. 】
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