In recent years, while building the most beautiful Yangtianhu Grassland, the district government achieved grassland ecological and economic benefits by promoting the integrated development of forest and grassland. 

 

 

It has launched a series of measures to strengthen grassland ecological protection and restoration. After the institutional reform in March 2019, grant rewards to grassland ecological restoration were formed, and five prohibition measures for grazing, fire, hunting, excavation and mining were taken. 

 

Beihu District set April to May as the grassland grazing prohibition period. And the district government has taken various measures to enhance the consciousness of local people to protect the grassland. For example, the district government widely publicized the importance of banning and delaying grazing through public platforms like government portal website, Chenzhou TV station and Wechat accounts. 

 

 

It has carried out a series of actions such as ecological protection and restoration and strengthening grassland law enforcement to solve problems such as low comprehensive grassland vegetation coverage, serious soil and water erosion caused by overgrazing and wind power project construction. 

 

It implemented the engineering protection of Yangtianhu Grassland, designated 306.67 hectares of core grassland area, built 28 kilometers of biological isolation belt and 11 kilometers of physical isolation fence, to prevent horses, cattle and sheep from entering and damaging vegetation. 

 

In addition, it has increased patrol and supervision. 7 local villagers were hired to strictly prevent illegal acts such as excessive hunting and cultivation, which effectively avoid hidden dangers of fire and maintain the ecological security of Yangtianhu Grassland. 

 

Due to excessive grazing, the grassland vegetation was seriously damaged and cow and horse dungs piled up, which brought a bad experience to tourists visiting Yangtian Lake. 

 

To change this situation, in 2020, the local government issued a notice on banning grazing in Yangtianhu Grassland and strengthened daily patrol and supervision, so the grassland vegetation has been restored well. 

 

In April 2021, it launched a two-month grassland law enforcement action.

 

And it has strengthened the law enforcement and rectification of the forest and grassland occupied by wind power projects, ordering them to restore 64,000 square meters of bare land, which promoted the restoration of Yangtianhu grassland. 

 

 

While strengthening the protection and restoration of grassland, the local government has fully tapped the economic potentials of Yangtianhu grassland, such as sports, leisure, sightseeing and vacation. 

 

According to the grassland resources and the ecological restoration and management plan for Yangtianhu grassland, Jinzhan Tourism Company hired planning and design institutions from Beijing, Shanghai and Changsha to lay out the functional areas of Yangtianhu grassland, such as leisure and sightseeing, horse riding and archery, and camping and accommodation. 

 

It has also actively encouraged tourism companies to cooperate with the masses around Yangtianhu grassland to build a farmers’ professional cooperative. The cooperative rented more than 30 horses from locals to form a grassland horse riding team, rented more than 10 houses to build grassland homestay inns. 

 

What’s more, it provided more than 500 jobs through long-term or seasonal employment. The average annual income of the surrounding people increased by about 3,000 yuan.