Dengkou Builds Forest-Grass Shelterbelt to Block Sand
At present, Dengkou County in Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is full of vitality, with greenery spreading across the land.
Deep in the Ulan Buh Desert, a 154-kilometer sandbreak forest belt shines alongside rows of photovoltaic panels. Grass forms grids, forests form networks, and the photovoltaic panels stretch like an ocean, building ecological barriers across the desert. At the saxaul planting base, pale yellow and milky-white cistanche with “dragon-scale” patterns has entered the harvest season...Joint prevention and control area along the Yellow River shoreline in Dengkou County Photo by Xu Yatong
Dengkou County is located at the northeastern end of the Ulan Buh Desert. It has long sunshine hours, with an average annual precipitation of only 149.3 mm, while its average annual evaporation reaches as high as 2,493 mm. The Ulan Buh Desert is one of China’s eight major deserts, of which 4.269 million mu lies within Dengkou County. Desert areas account for 68.3% of the county’s total area, and the well-known “Liuguai Sand Head” is one of the main sand outlets into the Yellow River.In the early years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a large 154-kilometer sandbreak forest belt was built locally. Before reform and opening up, the greenery in Dengkou’s sandy areas achieved a major transformation from “a single green line” to “a broad green area,” creating the miracle of “turning sandy land into fertile farmland and building farms in sandy areas.” Since reform and opening up, large-scale ecological governance has been carried out, enabling millions of mu of desert to undergo a historic transformation from “sand advancing and people retreating” to “greenery advancing and sand retreating.”Through nearly half a century of unremitting efforts by several generations, Dengkou County has pushed the eastern edge of the Ulan Buh Desert westward by an average of 20 kilometers. Desert control in the Ulan Buh Desert has shown a sound trend of overall improvement and accelerated recovery, contributing the Dengkou model of “systematic protection, whole-region governance, technological empowerment, and industrial support” to global desertification control.To win the battle in the Great Bend of the Yellow River, Inner Mongolia has planned a new 200-kilometer windbreak and sand-fixation belt along the eastern edge of the Ulan Buh Desert, of which 150 kilometers will be in Dengkou County.In March 2024, Bayannur City, together with Baotou, Wuhai, Ordos, and Alxa, signed the Regional Joint Prevention and Control Cooperation Agreement for the “Three-North” Program Battle in the Great Bend of the Yellow River at Liuguai Sand Head. This established a joint prevention and control mechanism featuring deeper cooperation, regional linkage, and coordinated management, with Bayannur and Alxa working together at Liuguai Sand Head to control shifting sand along the Yellow River shoreline.After the agreement was signed, Bayannur City adhered to the principles of systematic governance and scientific sand control, implementing the “riverside” project to block sand from entering the Yellow River. The Liuguai Sand Head governance area was designated as the “No. 1 stronghold” of the Great Bend battle and one of six key landmark projects.By further advancing regional joint prevention and control, Dengkou County completed 21,500 mu of ecological governance in 2024, including 2,000 mu of river willow and saxaul planting along the Yellow River shoreline, 1,700 mu of degraded forest restoration, and 17,800 mu of forest tending.As the main battlefield of the Great Bend battle along the Yellow River, Dengkou County has in recent years adhered to five-zone systematic governance and multiple coordinated measures. It has fully leveraged the multiple functions of forests, land, and water, coordinated ecological governance with the integrated development of photovoltaic, sand-grass, and traditional Chinese medicine industries, and gradually built a sand prevention and control system based on “one protected area, one network, and three zones.” This has provided an effective governance model for comprehensive desertification control.Five-zone systematic governance has opened a new pattern for sand control in Dengkou.“One protected area” refers to establishing nature reserves to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the desert ecosystem.“One network” refers to the farmland shelterbelt network. Along the eastern edge of the desert, a new shelterbelt network with main and secondary forest belts arranged vertically around farmland, road networks, and canal networks has been created to curb soil erosion and prevent desert encroachment on farmland.The “three zones” refer to the sand-enclosure and grass-restoration zone, the windbreak and sand-blocking zone, and the photovoltaic sand-control zone. In the sand-enclosure and grass-restoration zone, fencing is applied to bare dunes to promote natural vegetation recovery. In the windbreak and sand-blocking zone, straw checkerboards are first used to stabilize sand, followed by afforestation to fix dunes and prevent shifting sand from moving forward and eroding the Yellow River and railways. In the photovoltaic sand-control zone, the “photovoltaics + ecological governance” model is used to lock sand with photovoltaic panels and stabilize sand with grass.Through the construction of various key forestry and grassland ecological projects, Dengkou County has adhered to the principles of combining trees, shrubs, and grasses, applying multi-factor governance, and integrating multiple industries. It has accelerated the building of a new green barrier along the eastern edge of the Ulan Buh Desert, forming a fully functional forest-grass shelterbelt to block sand and secure the desert edge. The 200-kilometer windbreak and sand-fixation belt along the eastern edge of the Ulan Buh Desert has now been fully connected, effectively preventing shifting sand from entering the Yellow River, protecting the Hetao Plain, addressing sand and water hazards, and improving the production, living, and ecological environment of people in sandy areas.Meanwhile, relying on key ecological projects such as the “Three-North” Program, Dengkou has focused on the key governance area of Liuguai Sand Head. Through widening and upgrading measures, river willows have been replanted below dunes along the river shoreline to strengthen the arbor forest “sand-blocking wall.” The model of “engineering sand fixation + shrub afforestation” has been adopted to build shrub forest sand-blocking belts, while grass seeds have been sown to increase vegetation coverage and form sand-fixation networks. Ultimately, a three-layer barrier of trees, shrubs, and grasses of varying heights will be formed, raising regional forest and grass coverage to over 75%, cutting off the channel through which desert sand invades the Yellow River, and reducing sand delivery into the river.In exploration and practice, Dengkou County has innovated governance methods and promoted seven models, including “engineering sand fixation + cooperatives/farmers and herders + shrub afforestation + traditional Chinese medicinal materials + forest farms + follow-up management by farmers and herders,” as well as “shrub coppicing + feed processing + benefit linkage with farmers and herders.” These models promote win-win outcomes for ecology, production, and living standards.In 2025, through widening and upgrading, Dengkou County will implement 82,000 mu of ecological governance in the joint prevention and control area, including 50,000 mu of engineering sand fixation plus shrub afforestation, 26,000 mu of forest tending, and 6,000 mu of degraded forest restoration, striving to write a new chapter of greening the desert.Source: China Green Times