Adam Liebman started working at Rare in October 2009 as a Regional Campaign Documentation and RarePlanet Support Intern through Rare’s International Service Program. As a student in Kunming, China Adam will be documenting Rare’s Pride campaigns in China with photography and written reports. Read his first blog on the Black-necked Crane in the Dashanbao Nature Reserve…
Up on the high plateau of northeastern Yunnan Province, where many Black-necked Cranes spend their winter, the cheeks of the local population are painted by the wind with what is referred to as the “highlands red.” I became accustomed to the red glowing cheeks and runny noses of the local children, and after spending only four days at Rare’s Dashanbao Nature Reserve project site, my cheeks were starting to look a bit red as well.
My main duty was to document the site and Rare’s activities via photography, which proved to be a difficult task given the intensity of the sun and wind at such a high altitude (more than 3,000 meters). I did get a few good shots, however, and along the way I was able to ask many questions, understand the area, and see how one of Rare’s project sites actually looks on the ground.
We arrived at Dashanbao in the evening. Including me, our entourage consisted of Yu Wang and Ximin Wang from Rare’s China office and Hil Padilla, an agricultural expert from Hong Kong’s Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden. I awoke early to a thick blanket of fog and decided to bundle up and explore the village before it was time to meet up for breakfast. From what I had read and heard, the region is poor, remote and undeveloped. But from what I saw, this situation is changing fast. Entire sections of the village are being rebuilt and countless older homes have been retrofitted into makeshift boarding houses, in order to accommodate the growing numbers of tourists. I was delightfully surprised when a man wearing long waterproof boots emerged out of the fog, picking up plastic garbage from the small river that cuts the village into two halves.
After breakfast we went to a barren area high on the plateau to examine some of the more exposed grazing fields that had been replanted with strips of a high protein grass and legume mix. As we sauntered across the barren patchwork of replanted and original strips of grass, the fog begrudgingly lifted and revealed the horizon. Then, in the afternoon, we got a call from one of the park’s six crane guards that she had spotted the Black-necked Cranes circling the reservoir. Excited that the cranes had appeared, Dao Meibiao — Pride program manager, bridge to the local community, and driver — had us clinging for life as he sped down the bumpy dirt road, delivering us to the viewing station along the reservoir just as the cranes were landing in their preferred wetlands area. As we watched their eloquent and distinctive frolicking through binoculars, I began to truly appreciate what a special species they are.
The 19.2 hectare Black-necked Crane nature reserve at Dashanbao was established in 1991. It did not receive much support until 2003, when it became a national level protected area. The land itself reveals much of the recent history in the region, especially the social and environmental transformations resulting from the government’s uplands reforestation program (implemented in response to the severe Yangtze River floods of 1998). Today many of the slopes in the protected area are dotted with pine trees. While it certainly appears that the trees have helped to stabilize some of the slopes, they have hardly thrived, and many have failed to grow much more than half a meter in height.
Another revealing feature of Dashanbao’s landscape is its terraced hills. They still grow crops in Dashanbao — mostly potato, radish and turnip — but the majority of terraced fields have been reclaimed as forest and pasture land. Potato fields used to almost completely cover the terraces. Today locals lead their goats, sheep and cows up and down the terraces and around sections of sapling pine trees to pastureland that is too often overgrazed.
Restoring a healthy functioning ecosystem in Dashanbao isn’t an easy task. There are 16,000 residents living in the nature reserve, and finding ways for people to use and take less but get more from the environment is the overarching strategy of development in Dashanbao for Rare and our partners. Our agricultural expert discovered that the amount of protein being fed to livestock is insufficient, leading to slow growth and fatty meat. In a training session we taught villagers about animals’ nutritional needs and suggested that they grow protein rich Russian vetch in some fields to address the issue.
During our last day in Dashanbao we held a festival for the local villagers that included dancing, singing, games, puppet shows and knowledge contests, all related to the Black-necked Crane. The highlight of the activities was definitely the “human Black-necked Crane.” No one in our group seemed particularly excited about wearing the crane costume, but we found a young local man who was up for the job. It didn’t take long after he came out that he had a large number of giddy children following his every footstep. The children simply loved the crane, and they displayed extraordinary enthusiasm while participating in the activities.
Rare’s Black-necked Crane Pride program campaign is a huge success with local children. Although it may take decades to realize the full benefits of the pride being instilled in the youngest generation, this may indeed be the best strategy for long-term grassroots environmental protection. Like the trees planted in Dashanbao that have grown to only a half meter in height, time and patience are needed, but eventually both the children and the trees will grow tall and contribute to restoring the ecosystem of the region.
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