Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Bai Sujun) news: On the morning of October 6, 2025, as dawn was just breaking, Dawuli Kanjiabai, the station chief of the Sanpai Central Management Station under the Wusu Management Branch of the Xinjiang Ganjiahu Saxoul Forests National Nature Reserve Administration, and ecological forest ranger Balapani Halaili put on their helmets, packed water and naan, and rode motorcycles to patrol the area. During the patrol, they focused on checking 3,000 saxaul trees in forest sections No. 30, No. 11, and No. 4.

In 2008, Dawuli was recruited as an ecological forest ranger and subsequently worked at two protection stations under a local management branch.

"Working in this field, you have to endure hardship and be able to bear loneliness and solitude," Dawuli said. Over the past 17 years, his footprints have covered every corner of the jurisdiction. He knows exactly where the wild vegetation is most lush and which forest sections are frequented by wild animals.

The Sanpai Central Management Station covers an area of 114,000 mu (7,600 hectares) and features a variety of terrains, such as sand dunes, Gobi, swamps, and plains.

"The jurisdiction of the management station is interwoven with the living areas of local herdsmen and farmland, creating a pattern where desert reserves and human production and living areas coexist in a crisscross manner. This makes the coordination of ecological protection and people's livelihoods quite challenging," Dawuli said.

Especially during the spring plowing and autumn harvest seasons each year, the management pressure on the reserve significantly increases. It is necessary to prevent agricultural machinery from crossing boundaries and crushing wild vegetation and to guard against outsiders carelessly discarding cigarette butts and other trash. Such behavior not only destroys the ecological environment but also poses a fire hazard.

Photo taken on October 6, 2025 shows Dawuli Kanjiabai (left) patrols forest section No. 29 on foot with his son and ecological forest ranger Balapani Halaili (right). (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily/Zhang Wande)

Dawuli recalled that in the autumn of 2020, a kitchen fire at a herdsman's home near forest section No. 29 spread to the sheep pen. He and his colleagues arrived at the scene in time to put out the fire and averted the danger. In the spring of 2022, a rodent infestation occurred in forest section No. 30, and a large number of wild tamarisks and wild saxauls were eaten. They immediately reported it, and after treatment by relevant departments, the large-scale death of wild tamarisks and wild saxauls was avoided.

In 2023, during a patrol, Dawuli and his colleagues discovered severe desertification in four forest sections. They planted 3,000 saxaul seedlings together. After careful care, these seedlings have grown to over a meter tall. "Every time we patrol, we always habitually check on these saxaul seedlings, watering them regularly and inspecting for pests and diseases. Seeing them grow taller day by day makes me feel very proud," Dawuli said with a smile.

When holidays roll around, Dawuli's wife and son always visit him at the reserve, this year being no different.

"Since my son comes here often, he has learned to recognize many wild plants. He knows that camels love camel thorn as a tasty treat, that tamarisks are like brave soldiers guarding against wind and sand, and that sea buckthorn and wild goji berries are like natural pantries for birds," Dawuli said. His son often boasts to his classmates that his father is a superhero protecting wild animals and plants. In his son's drawing and composition classes, not only are the beautiful scenes of Ganjiahu often depicted, but there are also frequent scenes of ecological forest rangers patrolling on motorcycles.

Balapani told the reporter that Dawuli's son loves joining the adults on patrol whenever he visits the reserve. "He also enjoys photographing wild poplars, swans, and all kinds of waterfowl. He says he wants to work in ecological protection when he grows up and protect Ganjiahu with his dad, which always makes everyone chuckle."

"The reserve is like my second home," Dawuli said. "Now that I'm here, I'm determined to do everything I can to protect it." Watching the vegetation in the reserve grow more lush year by year and seeing more and more wildlife, he said, fills him with indescribable joy.

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