Xinhua Viewpoint · Focus on the Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Supervision | Illegal Sand Mining and Excavation of more than 2000 mu of Shoal in Dongting Lake District
Illegal sand mining and hollowing out of more than 2000 mu of marshland, the wetland with lush water and grass was densely covered with ditches and ridges, and some areas should be repaired and replanted with trees in violation of regulations... Recently, the reporter from "Xinhua Viewpoint" followed the Central Fifth Ecological Environmental Protection Supervision Group in a visit to Dongting Lake District, and found that there was a problem of wetland ecological destruction in many protected areas.
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More than 2000 mu of hollowed beach in the reserve
Nearly 20 million tons of illegal sand mining
Lishuihekou Wetland Reserve is located in Lixian County and Tianjin City of Changde City, covering an area of 119000 mu. The regulations on nature reserves stipulate that quarrying and sand digging in nature reserves are prohibited.
During the previous unannounced visit, the inspection team saw that more than 10 sand dredgers were collecting sand from the Mengjiang Embankment beach in the Reserve, and some of them were sorting sand and gravel in the main stream of Lishui River. The slurry water was discharged directly, and the clear water surface was washed out of a muddy yellow. The mined sand and stone are piled up in the water, more than 10 meters high and 100 meters long.
The inspection team found that the sand dredger illegally mined sand from the Mengjiangyuan Shoal in Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve. (Picture provided by the inspection team)
The inspector found that the sand mining operation carried out by the enterprise was approved by the water conservancy department of Lixian County. In recent years, the department has repeatedly approved in violation of regulations, allowing enterprises to collect sand in the Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve.
In July 2019, the water conservancy department of Lixian County approved in violation of regulations, allowing Lixian County Economic Construction Investment Co., Ltd. and Lixian County Dongyue Commerce and Industry Co., Ltd. to collect sand in the marshland of Mengjiangyuan in Lishuihekou Wetland Reserve.
"At that time, it was not known that Mengjiangyuan belonged to the nature reserve." The head of the relevant department of Lixian County said that it was not known until 2020 when the country carried out the integration and optimization of nature reserves. However, relevant information shows that the establishment of the reserve in Tianjin has applied to the Forestry Department of Hunan Province and the former State Forestry Administration for project establishment, which has been approved as early as 2006.
In order to legalize illegal sand mining, in December 2022, Tianjin Municipal Government planned to transfer Mengjiang Embankment Beach out of Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve without the approval of higher authorities.
In September 2023, the Water Resources Department of Hunan Province issued the Sand Mining Plan for the Main Stream of Hunan Ziyuan Li River and the River Channel of Dongting Lake in Hunan Province (2023-2027), which clearly requires that the Mengjiangyuan mining area "shall not mine sand before the approval of the adjustment plan for the scope of relevant natural reserves". However, in October 2023, the water conservancy department of Lixian County again approved in violation of the regulations, and agreed to collect sand from four sand mining companies, including Lixian Jiuli Sand and Stone Co., Ltd. and Lixian Huzhou Industrial Co., Ltd.
As of the arrival of the inspectors, the relevant enterprises had illegally mined 19.03 million tons of sand, excavated 2085 mu of Mengjiang embankments, and nearly a quarter of Mengjiang embankments were emptied. The on-site inspector found that about 176000 tons of sand and stone were stored in the Bund of Mengjiang Embankment.
The inspection team inquired about the satellite image and found that the marshland of Mengjiang Embankment in Lishui Estuary Wetland Reserve was excavated in a large area. (Picture provided by the inspection team)
In addition, the inspection team also found ecological destruction activities in other protected areas. In April of this year, Yueyang Miluo Agricultural and Rural Development Co., Ltd. illegally carried out river sediment and sand excavation tail pile cleaning operations in the experimental area of Silurus catfish National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Protection Zone at the mouth of Miluo River.
"According to the relevant regulations of the Reserve, during the special protection period from March to June every year, activities that may cause damage to the biological resources and ecological environment in the Reserve are not allowed." The inspectors introduced that in addition to the aquatic germplasm resources to protect fish catfish, the Reserve also distributes more than 310 kinds of aquatic wild protected animals, Including some national key protected wild animals and endangered animals.
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Some returning areas of Euramerican black poplar were not repaired
Illegal planting revived
In the 1980s, Euramerican black poplar was introduced into Dongting Lake area for planting as a forest for paper making. The planting of Euramerican black poplar requires extensive trenching and ridge raising, and the shallow water and beach in the lake area have been greatly reduced, which has seriously damaged the natural form of wetlands; In addition, the growth of Euramerican black poplar needs more water and nutrients, which will accelerate the drought of marshland. In 2017, the Central Environmental Protection Supervision Group pointed out in its feedback to the inspectors in Hunan Province that the large area planting of Euramerican black poplar seriously threatened the ecological environment security of Dongting Lake.
In 2017, Hunan Province formulated a poplar clearing work plan for the Dongting Lake Nature Reserve, requiring all European and American black poplars in the nature reserve to be cleared by the end of 2020, and simultaneously carrying out ecological restoration work such as returning forests to wet land and leveling ditches to water.
However, the reporter recently saw with the inspection team in the South Dongting Lake Provincial Nature Reserve in Yiyang City that although Euramerican black poplar has been basically cleared, ecological restoration work such as ditch leveling and water return has not been carried out. There are many ditches and ridges in the reserve, and the ridges are dry. There are many weeds in the ditches, and only a little shallow water exists in low-lying areas. According to statistics, the area of trenching and ridge raising is still about 183000 mu in the nature reserve.
Photo collage: The left picture shows the natural wetland landscape of South Dongting Lake (data picture), and the right picture shows the current situation of trenching and ridge lifting in South Dongting Lake. (Picture provided by the inspection team)
Experts believe that digging ditches and ridges in the wetland reserve has completely changed the beach and underwater topography of the wetland area, changed the habitat of wetland plants, fish and other wild animals, and threatened the living environment of aquatic organisms and birds.
What's more incredible is that some areas of the Reserve that have completed the clearance of Euramerican Black Poplar have replanted a large number of trees in violation of regulations. The reporter saw at the scene that maple poplar, dry willow and other trees were arranged on the ditches and ridges originally planted with Euramerican black poplar within 200 meters along the bank. The distance between each tree was about 3 meters. The local people said that they had planted them for two or three years.
During a recent unannounced visit, the inspection team found that there were excavators still working in the reserve, and some workers were digging holes to plant trees.
The inspection team found that the retreated area of Euramerican black poplar in the South Dongting Lake Provincial Nature Reserve in Yiyang City was digging pits to plant trees. (Picture provided by the inspection team)
Why plant new trees in the place where the trees are cut? According to the investigation, during the period from October 2017 to January 2022, when the local government organized the removal and return of Euramerican black poplar in the reserve, the water conservancy department of Yuanjiang City, Yiyang City, signed 25 lease contracts without authorization, and leased the 21000 mu of Euramerican black poplar removal and return area that should have been subject to ecological restoration to individuals, which was used in violation of regulations for planting trees such as maple poplar and dry willow.
The reporter checked the contracts one by one. The annual rent of the land ranged from 20 to 80 yuan per mu. The leased area ranged from dozens of mu to thousands of mu. The latest expiration date of the contract was December 31, 2036. A tenant told the reporter that the purpose of contracting is to plant trees and sell them to the paper mill after they become timber.
"The main purpose of clearing the Euramerican black poplar in the reserve is to return the forest to the wet, gradually restore the near natural wetland form through ecological restoration, and improve the ecological function of the wetland." The inspectors said that the local clean-up and rectification work was not complete, and the original site was lack of scheme demonstration, administrative approval and other links, and illegal planting resumed.
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Rectification can not be conditional, discounted or flexible
The inspection team pointed out that Yiyang, Changde, Yueyang and other places had insufficient awareness of the importance of ecological protection of Dongting Lake wetland, the rectification work was not strict and truthful, illegal planting and illegal sand mining were repeatedly prohibited, and ecological damage was prominent.
At present, the mining of Mengjiang Embankment has been stopped. In the next step, Changde City will look back on the sand mining in rivers and lakes and the ecological environment protection of nature reserves in the whole city, improve the demarcation and marking, sort out the risks and hidden dangers, list the problems, and resolutely and thoroughly rectify the problems found.
In view of the illegal operations found by the inspectors in the Miluo River Estuary Catfish National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Protection Zone, Yueyang City said that it would comprehensively investigate, pay close attention to normal supervision, strengthen long-term management, and resolutely put an end to this phenomenon again.
In response to the problems pointed out by the inspection team, such as returning forests to wet land and giving up halfway, the Yiyang Municipal Government said that it would set up special work teams, develop rectification plans for typical cases, clarify the rectification time limit, check accounts one by one, and strengthen tracking supervision.
The inspection team believes that to strengthen the protection and restoration of the Dongting Lake wetland, the relevant local authorities and departments should pay more attention to the construction of ecological civilization, increase the research on solutions to relevant ecological environment problems, and systematically, comprehensively, and cooperatively manage to avoid the problems that have occurred in the earlier stage being delayed and not corrected.
The inspection team will further investigate and verify the relevant situation and do a good job of follow-up supervision as required.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Reporter: Song Jia, star, Cheng Ji'an
Editor in charge: Qin Daixin
Checked by: Chu Xiaopeng
