Overview of firs in Laoshan, Laoshan, Guangxi

Photo material: Resource fir

Fir, a pine plant that prefers a cold and humid climate, generally grows in subalpines and mountains with high latitudes, but

The resource fir is distributed in the northwest of Guangxi, where the latitude is low. Therefore, when it was discovered, it caused a sensation.

The source model of the resource fir is Yinzhu Laoshan, and it also distributes national key protected plants such as southern yew, South China wushan pine and medlar. It is home to dozens of rare species such as pheasant, black bear, golden pheasant, red-bellied horned owl, and big pheasant. animal. Since the discovery of the resource fir, the resource county has consciously protected this treasure.

Rangers are guarding their lives

In the days of Yinzhu Laoshan, I lived together with the stationmaster Yang Zhongkui, the forest guards Lei Chengguang and Yang Zhongshan in the deep mountains above 1396 meters above sea level, cooking the bracken together, and watching the rain together. The tree, I feel that their life is very inconvenient, and the management is very difficult.

The Yinzhu Laoshan Protection Station is 72 kilometers away from the resource county. It is 15 kilometers away from the nearest residential area. It is very difficult to go uphill and down the mountain. The mobile phone has no signal and is isolated from the world. I went up the mountain with Yang Zhongkui, and brought a short joy to Lei Chengguang and Yang Zhongshan. In normal times, there was only one yellow dog and the sound of drowning in front of the door. Even on New Year's Eve and the Spring Festival, thousands of households are reunited in the sound of firecrackers, but they still have to stand in the mountains, as opposed to the mountains.

There is a characteristic of Yinzhu Laoshan, which is raining for half a year. Lei Chengguang said: "Even if the foot of the mountain is clear, the mountain will be raining. It will float and stop in the day. It seems that there is no end. Only in sunny days in June, July and August." In the long rainy season, protection The quilts and clothes on the station are mostly wet. Yang Zhongkui said: "There is heavy rain on the roof, there is light rain in the house, the ground is still watering, and the quilt is a mist." Since the establishment of the protection station, many foresters have chosen to leave, and they are still at the protection station to participate in the forest protection mine. Cheng Gang entered the station in 1989. He suffered from severe rheumatism on both legs and was as painful as acupuncture on a rainy day. He said: "The Yinzhu Laoshan is not only rainy but also snowy in winter. There is a year of heavy snow and a mountain. In order to replenish rice and salt, I have to climb down the valley from the ice and snow and climb down the mountain before returning home. ."

There are also life-threatening forests in the mountains. In 1996, the gangsters who swindled the resources of firs retaliated against the foresters and used two packs of explosives to blow up the protection station out of the hole. At that time, the forest guards escaped the robbery because they had left the station in advance because of the news of relatives. When Yang Zhongkui first arrived at the station as a stationmaster in 2007, he found himself weak and unable to stand up one day when he sat down. His body was like a pile of soft mud on the ground. He had suffered from severe potassium deficiency.

The deeper the understanding, the more admired the dedication and dedication of the management personnel of Yinzhu Laoshan, and the helplessness of them. At present, the Yinzhu Laoshan Nature Reserve is inseparable from forest rangers such as Lei Chengguang and Yang Zhongshan. Now, what they are most looking forward to is to build the second floor of the station building, so that they can sleep on the second floor, and the body is less affected by the cold wave. They hope to repair a small road from the protection station to reach the triangle pot near the altitude of more than 1600 meters, where they can build a station that can be parked, so that the patrolling resource firs do not have to travel more than 12 hours a day, and the resource fir protection is also more It is beneficial.

Less than 200 wild populations

Visiting the resource firs prompted me to explore further rare species that are not resistant to heat but grow in the subtropics.

About 2 million years ago, the Earth entered the Quaternary glacial period, and the climate was cold. Fir is now widely distributed in southern China. After the glacial period, global temperatures rose, and the firs in the low-altitude areas of central and southeastern China could not adapt to the changing environment, and most of them disappeared. For a long time, people talk about Chinese fir, can only think of the sub-alpine regions in the southwest and northwest, and the Altai and Daxinganling Mountains at high latitudes: the firs are towering into the clouds, often forming a subalpine dark coniferous forest and the north with spruce. Taigalin.

In the late 1970s, news of the discovery of firs in southeastern and central south China was spread. In 1979, an expert discovered a new species of the genus Pinaceae in the resource county of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, named the resource fir. Like the Yuanbaoshan fir, the Baishanzu fir, and the Fanjingshan fir, it is the “living fossil” left over from the Quaternary Ice Age unique to China. It is listed as China’s first-class protected plant and the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “Conifer Conservation Action Plan”. "Key protection trees.

The resource fir was first discovered in Yinzhu Laoshan, Guangxi, and later in the neighboring Xinhuang County, Hunan Province. I want to find out: What is the population of the resource fir?

Ning Shijiang researched resources for many years, and built monitoring plots in Yinzhu Laoshan. From 1999 to 2010, he climbed to Yinzhu Laoshan several times. In 2002, he made a special trip to Hunan Huangshan. On May 28, 2012, when he was interviewed by the Guangxi Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, he said: "According to the sample survey and the net-type search, Guangxi Yinzhu Laoshan has 96 resources of fir, no big trees, no live birth. The youngest trees and seedlings, the minimum plant age has also reached 35 years, the majority of plants are between 40 and 45 years old. There are about 30 species of firs in the Huangshan Mountain in Hunan, all of which are large trees with a breast diameter of more than 30 cm. No saplings and seedlings were found."

Ning Shijiang believes that there are less than 200 wild populations of resource firs. Yang Zhongkui and other relevant resources of the County Forestry Bureau believe that the resource fir of Yinzhu Laoshan should not have 96 strains that Ning Shijiang said, but it should not only be 32 of them.

The largest number of resource fir populations is due to deforestation. Its trunk is straight and the material is tough. It is suitable for building houses and manufacturing furniture. Since the 1980s, the surrounding villagers have repeatedly slashed and destroyed the population. Its distribution is high in altitude and remote, but the slope of the mountain slope is slow and the environment is closed. The surrounding villagers regard it as a “natural ranch.” In the past, some yaks were kept for months or even years without any management and destruction of habitat. Scratched and killed some of the plants.

The fate of Guangxi's fir is hard to measure

The resource fir grows for about 30 years before it begins to bear fruit. After that, the fruit is stored once every three to five times. The number of cones is small, and the embryos are not developed. The study found that all the membranes are empty. Artificial breeding has so far not been successful.

Ning Shijiang said: "The existing resources of firs in Yinzhu Laoshan are close to middle age, the plants are weak, the population is degraded and specialized. The resources of firs in Mt. Huangshan are aging and there are no successor populations. This rare species is already very dangerous. ."

At the end of the 1970s, the distribution of resources and firs in Yinzhu Laoshan was once large, and it was the main companion or sub-dominant species of the community, and some were the big trees that two or three people could hold together. Nowadays, the resources of the firs here are scattered and become sporadic species. Those big trees have already been stolen.

There are more than 8,500 kinds of higher plants in Guangxi, but there are firs in the subtropical zone, which is the most rare. Therefore, I listed the two kinds of firs remaining in Guangxi, the resource fir and the Yuanbaoshan fir, as the “double shackles” of Guangxi plants. The only distribution of Yuanbaoshan fir in the world is the Yuanbaoshan Nature Reserve in Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, with a population of only 200.

Both the resource fir and the Yuanbaoshan fir have lost their natural regeneration ability, and only 200 remains, which is in a precarious predicament. Can the “double eyes” of Guangxi plants be saved? I have consulted many experts who have been speechless for a long time.