Qumalai and the Yangtze Source Park: The Work of a Patrol

In Qumalai County, a patrol can move along a road, a stream and high grassland in one long loop. A 2025 report from the Yangtze Source Park describes a team in Hongqi Village, Yegé Township, led by the village party secretary and made up of herders who patrol roadsides, waterways and mountain pasture. They carry their own food and fuel, covering roughly 30 to 40 kilometers a day; every two or three days, they complete a round of the area assigned to them.

The tasks are practical: protect water, pick up rubbish, watch wildlife and report illegal mining or hunting. Patrols create a record of change as well as a protective presence. Teams return to their assigned routes every few days, building a working knowledge of waterways, pasture and wildlife through repeated patrols.

The same report names ranger Naobu Cairang, who also serves as a village party secretary. He works with village residents in patrol teams using motorcycles and horses as well as foot routes. The report says his assigned village area includes 568 pastoral households and 180,000 mu of land. These dated figures describe the scale of that team’s responsibility in 2025.

Another named figure in the article, Danzan, has worked at a local ecological protection station for two decades. His account connects the park’s patrol work to earlier concern about grassland degradation and the wish to see the ecosystem recover. In Qumalai, source protection is carried out through both organized teams and long familiarity with the terrain they cross.