Jiang Lin, Li Chengxing, Lin Lin

linlin_szdaily@126.com

As the car traveled westwards along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway in the snow, Zou Zhuogang was drawn to the wild animals that popped up outside the car window from time to time.

“Look! There is a herd of Tibetan antelopes at your 2 o’clock position,” Zou said excitedly. “And there are Tibetan wild donkeys at your 11 o’clock!”

As a volunteer with the Green River, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) dedicated to protecting the ecological environment of the Yangtze River headwaters for more than 20 years, Zou is a frequent visitor to the highway that stretches across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in western China.

Zou, a retired traffic police officer from Shenzhen, is known to the public for providing temporary traffic lights to help Tibetan antelopes to cross the highway during their seasonal migration.

Every year in May and June, herds of Tibetan antelopes migrate from their original habitat to another location for breeding. To reach their destination, they must cross the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. In 2004, the Green River initiated the Traffic Lights for Tibetan Antelopes program. Through setting up temporary traffic lights, the organization has helped the animals to cross the highway safely.

Zou participated in the program as one of the eight volunteers. Since then, he has become an official member of the NGO. Every year Zou travels to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to provide voluntary service and stays on the plateau for at least one month.

Last month, reporters with Shenzhen Daily followed Zou during his latest visit to the plateau. The trip started from the Golmud nature protection station in Golmud City of Qinghai Province and covered five other stations set up by the Green River, along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, to deal with nondegradable trash that is threatening the safety of the Yangtze River headwaters.

“We initiated a program at the Golmud station that encourages local shepherds, long-haul truck drivers and tourists to trade in food for the trash they collect on the way,” Zou told Shenzhen Daily.

To encourage more people to contribute to trash disposal, Zou came up with another idea where people can be rewarded a cup of coffee for taking away a bag of trash. At No. 1 Yangtze River Post Office, located near the Tuotuo River, one of the three headwaters of the Yangtze River, a special service is provided. Visitors who take away a bag of sorted trash to the trash disposal center in Golmud City can get a free cup of hot coffee.

In addition to protecting Tibetan antelopes, the Green River has also launched a program to protect bar-headed geese along the Tuotuo River.

Bar-headed geese fly at extreme altitudes. The Bande Lake area, which is located 4,650 meters above sea level, is a major habitat for the birds. To protect the birds, and other wild animals, the Green River has set up a wildlife observation station near the lake. During the breeding season of bar-headed geese, volunteers of the Green River stay up all night to monitor the area and protect the birds from any human activity that might harm the birds.

The station is also a scientific research base for the study of birds, plants as well as mammals, such as brown bears and snow leopards.

Zhang Li, also a Shenzhen citizen, is one of the volunteers working at the observation station. Zhang learned about the Green River while serving at another volunteer organization back in Shenzhen. She applied for the bar-headed geese protection program through the NGO’s website and received an interview by Zou. Now she is responsible for observing the bar-headed geese and other birds around the lake.

Equipment maintenance is also a daily job for the volunteers of the station. Around the Yangtze River headwaters, 200 infrared cameras have been set up. The first task Zou received when he arrived at the Bande Lake, during this trip, was to change the image-sending equipment on the top of Bande Mountain. Up on the plateau, the air became thinner. Each step towards the mountain top was a challenge for people living in plains, but Zou has been used to it. He kept reminding the young volunteers to be cautious while busy with his own work.

In September 2012, the Green River set up the Yangtze River Headwaters Ecological Conservation Station. For almost 10 years it has been providing support for the volunteers who serve at an average altitude of 4,500 meters.

For Zou, it’s “an honor and great fortune to protect the mother river of China.”