When he first heard of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project, Tsega,
chief of the Hoh Xil (Kekexili) wildlife reserve watchdog, was
worried the project would have a negative impact on his
animals.
?That was in late 2000, when Tsega and his patrol team were
engaged in a war chasing poachers of the endangered Tibetan
antelope out of the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve.
"I had always thought construction of the railway would cause
inconvenience to the migration of animals and affect our protection
work," Tsega, director of the reserve's management bureau, told
China Daily. "I thought I would have to deal with the
builders."
An uninhabited haven that spans 45,000 square kilometers, Hoh
Xil reserve is approved by the State Council to protect animals
including the antelope, their wool a target for poachers who make
it into shahttosh shawls that sell dearly in fashion centers.
As the strategic railroad must traverse Hoh Xil to link Xining,
capital of Qinghai Province and Lhasa, capital of the Tibet
Autonomous Region, Tsega said he and his colleagues participated in
the design of the line prior to the construction.
"We told the railway authorities our concerns, and shared
information regarding the migratory patterns and paths of the
animals," Tsega said.
It turned out that railway constructors already had terms in
their contracts requiring them to put environmental and wildlife
protection above everything, according to Tsega.
As a result, the railway was designed to run along the eastern
edge of the reserve for 200 kilometers, with specially built
passages mostly bridges with large openings at key points along the
route where the antelopes are believed to cross during their
seasonal migration to their traditional birth-giving grounds, he
said.
This rail route, according to Tsega, has deliberately avoided
passing through wetlands or grasslands where animals
concentrate.
Tsega and his colleagues supervised how the workers implemented
their contracts when construction started in June 2001.
"At the beginning, I quarrelled with some workers who dumped
waste arbitrarily, or pitched their makeshift tents just anywhere
on the grassland," Tsega said.
One of Tsega's worries was that builders would quarry for gravel
on the vast Hoh Xil, making holes here and there on the reserve and
destroying the grassy cover.
Soothingly, sands and stones for the rail bed and road slopes
were usually trucked from grounds as far as 90 kilometres away from
the site, beyond the reserve.
"I don't think I'm waxing lyrical about what they did, but I saw
they were environment-conscious," he said.
But antelopes would not wait for the completion of all the
work.
For thousands of years, female antelopes have been migrating,
usually between June and July, from all directions to the Zhuonai
and Taiyang lakes in the northern part of the reserve to give
birth, and two months later, making a return trip with their
offspring.
"We've reached a consensus that construction must give way to
migration," he said.
According to Tsega, two years ago workers at the Wudaoliang
North Bridge halted their work for 15 days to allow migratory
antelopes to cross the site.
Not only were the workers evacuated, marker flags were removed
and machines silenced so as not to scare away the skittish
creatures, he said.
"I was really grateful for the arrangement," Tsega said.
In the following months, Tsega and some workers worked together
to "get the animals accustomed to the bridge openings" by "herding"
them through the special passages.
Based on the reserve bureau's observations over the past three
years, the antelopes and other animals seem to have been getting
increasingly accustomed to the special underpasses, Tsega said.
But now comes the ultimate test: What will happen when the
regular train service starts?
Tsega found cause for optimism.
First, Tibetan antelopes can adapt to a situation very fast. For
one thing, they can now pass through an underpass without human
intervention.
Just as they have got accustomed to the vehicles on the
Qinghai-Tibet Highway, it will just be a matter of time before they
get used to the noise and vibration of trains.
Second, trains do not pass the reserve all day long. They come
and go, often at regular hours.
Tsega said his reserve management bureau would send volunteers
aboard the trains to educate passengers about environmental and
wildlife protection.
Asked if the train will facilitate poaching, Tsega said it was
impossible for anyone to take advantage of it that way.
Poachers usually have to use cars that are laden with the
materials in order to hunt.
The biggest threat to the antelopes, Tsega said, remains the
demands for shahttosh in the international market, even though sale
of the wool is illegal under the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species.
(China Daily July 3, 2006)