Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Chen Jianglin, Correspondent Zhao Xia) news: In the early morning of July 8, 2025, Eshanjan Mutalif and his wife, both rangers at the Aiximan Patrol Station of the Awat County Forestry and Grassland Bureau, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, rode a motorbike to the Aiximan area.

Photo taken on May 20, 2025 shows forest rangers patrol in the Aiximan area of Awat County, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo by Zhao Xia)

The Aiximan area, centered on Aiximan Lake, a low-lying area at the edge of the Aksu River, has long been shrinking under the relentless push of the desert from the south, its ecosystem growing ever more fragile. Only a few years ago, gales whipped yellow sand across a barren expanse where even birds refused to linger. Today, green spreads outward in every direction. Looking at the thriving vegetation, Eshanjan can’t help but exclaim, “Look! In just two or three years, these saxaul forests have grown taller than I am.” Each day, he and his wife patrol several hundred mu of forest on foot.

Awat County lies on the northern edge of the Taklimakan Desert and stands as a pivotal zone in China’s northern sand-control belt for ecological conservation and restoration along the Tarim River Basin.

In 2021, Aksu Prefecture launched the integrated conservation and restoration project of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts in the key source area of the Tarim River (the Aksu River Basin). Among its components, the Aiximan Area Ecological Restoration and Desertification Control Project is one of Aksu’s five “million-mu” ecological initiatives and a sub-project of the broader integrated conservation and restoration program for the Tarim headwaters (the Aksu River Basin).

During the restoration, Awat County fully leveraged reclaimed water from Aksu City and Wensu County, along with seasonal ecological releases, to revive desert xerophytic vegetation through scientific methods such as manual planting, seeding, and supplemental irrigation, gradually establishing a relatively stable desert ecosystem.

“We have adopted water-saving irrigation across the board, minimizing the environmental impact of reclaimed water while maximizing efficiency. Every tree receives precisely the water it needs,” Jiang Lili, deputy director of Awat County Forestry and Grassland Bureau, explained. For species selection, the Aiximan area employs a mixed-forest approach that strategically combines trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, leveraging the ecological strengths of each to create a robust and effective shelterbelt.

Askar Nur, a senior engineer, said: “Through measures such as afforestation, grass seeding, enclosing sandy areas to allow natural regeneration, and wetland restoration, the Aiximan area now has well-established woodlands and grasslands. Average soil salinization has dropped by 60 percent, and the weather pattern has shifted from frequent large-scale sandstorms to only localized dust storm.”

In 2024, the Aiximan Area Ecological Restoration and Desertification Control Project was selected as one of the second batch of exemplary cases of China’s integrated conservation and restoration initiative for mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts.

Yusufjan Alim has worked here for three years. Like Eshanjan, he spends every day patrolling through the woodlands, tending to roughly 1,333 hectares of planted forest. “When I first arrived, you hardly saw any wild animals,” he said. “After we planted poplars, saxaul, and other species, foxes, wild boars, and hares became common sights.” Yusufjan has witnessed these changes in his hometown’s ecology, and the sight fills him with quiet joy.

To date, the project has delivered clear results. A total of 52,567 heactares have been ecologically restored, of which 10,667 hectares are new afforestation. And the forest coverage rate has increased from an initial 4.5 percent to 45 percent.

“Our next step is to keep innovating our governance model and further raise the scientific precision of ecological restoration,” Jiang Lili said. At the same time, the county will actively explore ways to integrate ecological projects with rural revitalization—developing eco-tourism and specialty fruit industries—so that the gains from ecological restoration can deliver lasting benefits to local communities and achieve a win-win for both ecological and economic returns.

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