During the Spring Festival holiday, a family remained steadfast at their post in the Xiannyu Cave (Fairy Cave) management station of the Dashahe Nature Reserve in Guizhou province, celebrating the vacation time doing guard duty. The dedicated couple Zhao Deling and Sheng Mingfen oversee nearly 7,000 mu (467 hectares) of protected areas, ensuring the safety of wild animals and greenery.
Dashahe Nature Reserve was established in 1984. With a total area of 26,990 hectares, it is a forest ecosystem nature reserve focusing on the protection of rare and endangered species such as Cathaya argyrophylla (commonly known as the Cathy silver fir) and Trachypithecus francoisi (Tonkin langur), as well as their natural habitats.
Elevated to a provincial-level nature reserve in 2001 and further upgraded to national-level in May 2018, the reserve's conservation efforts are commendable.
Zhao, 50, serves as a forest ranger in the reserve, while his wife Sheng joined the team in 2020 after another ranger retired.
Located within the Daozhen Gelao and Miao autonomous county in Zunyi city, the management station can be reached by following a winding downhill road to the forest fire prevention checkpoint where Zhao and Sheng are stationed. This checkpoint is a crucial access point to the protected area, requiring round-the-clock surveillance year-round.
As forest rangers, Zhao and Sheng commence their duties at dawn. One is responsible for guarding the checkpoint to prevent unauthorized entry, while the other patrols the forest, navigating 13 river bends. Their tasks include recording the growth and activities of wild flora and fauna, managing waste washed downstream, clearing weeds around boundary markers, signs and infrared camera equipment, and regularly replacing memory cards in the infrared cameras for data collection and retrieval.
Excluding inclement weather periods, completing one round-trip patrol takes over three hours. Between winter and spring, the river is biting cold, but Zhao steps right in every day, saying, "It's fine once you get used to it".
