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September 4, 2016

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Wilderness at our doorstep

NOT that many years ago, Dalian Lake Wetland in the west of Qingpu District was nothing more than a local fishing spot.

Over time, the once pristine area suffered ecological degradation from pollution, loss of biodiversity and shrinking water levels.

In 2008, a rehabilitation plan for the wetlands was approved. The project sought to replenish water levels, halt farm runoff of phosphates that were choking oxygen content, and reintroduce plant and animal species back to the area.

“People who used to farm fish or come to catch the wild fish were asked to leave the area,” said Wu Di from the Shanghai Wildlife Conservation Management Station, who was involved in the rehabilitation work years ago as a college student.

Today the area has a wetland park that is due to open to the public soon, and an open lake area with a pedestrian pathway along one shore.

On a trip to the Dalian Lake area in mid-August, we toured around the park and viewed the only pond cypress forest in Shanghai. Some 5,000-8,000 cypress, planted over many years, provide a stunning landscape and also protect the water and soil in the area.

“The parasitic roots of the trees are powerful aerators to protect the tree from ‘drowning’ in the water, and you can see the many egrets nesting in these woods,” said Kang Hongli, who runs sustainable farms in Cenbo village in Qingpu and conducts regular research on the wildlife in the Dalian Lake area. “It’s quite loud in the spring when the fledglings appear.”

In the spring and fall, the pond cypress forest provides an ideal spot for photography buffs and twitchers. There are bird-watching stations along the plank pathways. The idea is to minimize the presence of people in a natural wildlife habitat.

Indeed, the park is home to many wildlife species. The egrets and grebes favor the cypress pond and often reside among the trees, sometimes the egrets would fly up to the tip of the cypress trees and start preening. We even saw a moorhen walking along the pathway recklessly in front of us.

Although the wetland park is not yet formally open to the public, the Dalian Lake area outside the gate of the park is accessible throughout the year. It’s a place of solitude and respite from hurly-burly urban life.

“After seeing all the skyscrapers in Shanghai,” wrote one foreign visitor on a travel website, “I could not find a more interesting lake in the city. It has a beautiful panorama indeed for pictures and walking.”

Gourd-shaped Dalian Lake is full of wild reeds and freshwater phytoplankton. After years of rehabilitation and strict controls, the water is now quite clear of pollutants. Small fish swim amid the water weeds.

The wetlands are part of the Dianshan Lake water system, a large, open body of water in the Qingpu District. Dalian Lake is an intimate corner of the system, flanked by grasslands, weeping willows and lotus. It has layers of aquatic plants from those floating on the surface to those submerged below.

Strolling along the narrow passageways, we easily spotted the whiskered tern and white-winged terns flying overhead, and one adult grebe leading three young fledglings in the reed marshes. But the lake is perhaps best known for the pheasant-tailed jacana, an elegant bird with white plumage on the head and breast, brown plumage on the back and golden yellow feathers on the neck.

Dalian Lake also attracts large numbers of wild ducks that feed on aquatic plants. About 183 species of birds have been documented here, including rare sightings of the white-throated kingfisher, Chinese penduline tit and Chinese merganser.

The Dalian Lake is approximately 58 kilometers from People’s Square in downtown Shanghai. It can be easily accessed via the Huqingping Freeway and Huyu Expressway, connected with the Yan’an Elevated Road.

About Dalianhu Lake

The Dalian Lake Wetland is located in the downstream zone of Dianshan Lake, an important source of water for Shanghai. Dalian Lake has a water depth averaging two meters. The core lake area covers 4.7 square kilometers and includes nine villages in the towns of Jinze and Zhujiajiao, with a total population of about 7,500.

The Dalian Lake Wetland is the main section of Qingpu’s westside country park, which has been undergoing restoration. The park is currently expanding in size.

The project to restore the lake to its more natural state involved a number of agencies and organizations. Among them, the Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences did the research into agricultural non-point source pollution, and the Shanghai Academy of Landscape Architecture Science and Planning formulated plant re-vegetation. The Shanghai Wildlife Conservation Management Station collaborated with the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences on land restoration, river water system adjustment and ecological farming methods.

East China Normal University carried out studies on the biodiversity of the wetlands, and the World Wildlife Fund also did a section of wetland restoration.

 

 

Pond cypress 池杉

Scientific name: Taxodium ascendens

Pond cypress is perhaps the most interesting flora in the Dalian Lake Wetland Park. This cypress species is native to North America, and Shanghai introduced it for water and soil conservation purposes.

The pond cypress grows with its feet in water and can reach up to 18 meters in height. The short leaves and expanded trunk at the base help the tree survive in water.

Pheasant-tailed jacana 水雉

Scientific name: Hydrophasianus chirurgus

The pheasant-tailed jacana is known for its beautiful breeding plumage, when the wings, head and fore neck are white and the hind neck is golden. The bird is between 30 to 60 centimeters in length and feeds on insects, shrimp, mollusks and crustaceans. Its breeding season is from April to September.

Whiskered tern 须浮鸥

Scientific name: Chlidonias hybrida

The whiskered tern is a relatively small seabird with black cap and strong bill. The birds’ habitat is lakes, river shorelines and marshlands. It feeds on small fish, shrimp and aquatic insects. The breeding season is between May and July. The birds are widely distributed in Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania.




 

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