(2) The Yellow River in the Loess Plateau area is clear as day

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection and the national policy of controlling water and soil erosion, both "comprehensive management of small watersheds" and "returning farmland to forests and grasslands" have been given equal emphasis.

The state has issued policies to shoulder the economic compensation for farmers to abandon farmland. In the natural forest protection policy, each forest farm has changed from sales and management to planting and management. Slopes with a slope greater than 25° will be resolutely converted into forests and grasslands. These two major decisions have effectively prevented the expansion of soil erosion.

The "Comprehensive Management of Small Watersheds" policy in the Luliang Mountains contracted the loess gully area to individuals, built dams at the mouth of the ditch to silt the land, planted trees at the head of the ditch, turned the slopes beside the ditch into terraces, and built terraces in the ditch. Proceeds go to farmers. Thanks to this policy reward, the area of ??forest and grass coverage in the loess hilly areas has increased significantly, and soil erosion has been effectively controlled. Although it is not possible to prevent water from flowing out of every gully, a large number of small gullies in densely populated areas have been contracted, and no rainwater flows out of the gullies during light to moderate rains.

Geologists are professionally sensitive to soil and water conservation. They most hope that all mountains will be exposed rocks so that geological phenomena can be clearly seen. Today’s geological observation conditions are indeed very different from those in the 1960s and 1970s.

First, the village-to-village access project allows all administrative villages to drive off-road vehicles, greatly improving the transportation conditions for geological workers. Second, the village evacuation and immigration policy is implemented in mountainous areas with poor ecological conditions. There are fewer opportunities to find villages in the barren mountains. Many residential areas on the map have become deserted villages, causing difficulties in the lives (housing and food) of geologists. , it’s hard to find passers-by. Third, walking conditions in the mountains are poor, and a large number of mountains have been closed for afforestation. In the past, grazing trails could be found in the mountains, but now they have basically disappeared or hidden in the shrubs, making it more difficult for geological personnel to pass. Many of the ridges where the rocks were exposed have been blocked by thorns. Fourth, there are fewer rock outcrops, and the view is more blocked. In the past, the rocks that were often visible on the roadside (path) have been covered up by vegetation. Important geological phenomena used to be easy to see clearly, but now they can only be found by plucking grass and branches.

Compared with the 20th century, we used to walk an average of 30 to 40 miles a day. Today, we can travel by car, and our work efficiency has been significantly improved. However, difficulty in passage, difficulty in finding outcrops, and difficulty in locating geological points have reduced the previously improved efficiency. Although GPS (locator) can be used to accurately locate geological points, in the forest, due to the shielding of trees all over the sky, GPS loses its positioning function and increases the difficulty of positioning.

This is of course a problem encountered by the industry, and it more truly proves that the world of Luliang Mountain is gradually changing. Before the 1980s, the situation of planting trees but not seeing them every year is also changing. Encouraged by "whoever plants, the profits go to whoever plants them," artificial groves are growing quietly.

Especially since this century, agricultural machinery has been promoted. One person drives a loader, piles soil to build a dam, and converts a slope into a flat one. The efficiency is as high as that of hundreds of people in the past. Earth dams in the gully are fortified layer by layer from upstream to downstream. Sloping land suitable for farming has been bulldozed and renovated into horizontal terraces. This phenomenon has swept across the Luliang Mountains. In the past, it was emphasized that the power of people is greater, and the battle of human sea was used to transform nature. Today, mechanization replaces human-sea warfare, and the effect is even more significant. The power of mechanization is becoming more and more clear in the mountainous areas. It certainly speeds up the efficiency and progress of soil and water conservation.

It can also be seen that urbanization is also evident in mountainous areas. In many small counties, half to one-third of the county's population is often concentrated in the county seat, and people live a good life with "lights and telephones, upstairs and downstairs". The number of abandoned villages in the mountainous areas increased and the population moved to the cities.

With the popularization of natural gas and coal gas, people no longer have to go into the mountains to cut firewood. The number of people who rely on burning firewood has decreased (they have moved to cities), thus protecting forests to the greatest extent. Captive breeding replaced grazing, sheep no longer went up the mountains, and large-scale concentrated captive breeding activities were gradually carried out in the Luliang Mountains. In the north, Zuo Yun and You Yu took the lead, with patches of blue corrugated iron roofs housing hundreds of improved goats and sheep. In addition, the reverse chicken raising method has been extended to mountains and forests. They are raised in mountain forests. They eat insects and grasshoppers, exercise a lot, and eat a lot of meat (worms). Therefore, the egg quality is good, the yolk is red, and there are no artificially added disease prevention drugs: various It contains mycin, so it is more environmentally friendly.

Many counties have proposed to build famous forest and fruit villages, or even one village with one specialty (agricultural and sideline products), to provide urban residents with high-quality brand-name products to improve rural incomes. Various national supporting policies to improve the lives of poor people in mountainous areas are being implemented in the Luliang Mountains. It has taken more than thirty years since the reform and opening up. Productivity has increased, products are diversified, life has improved, soil and water conservation has improved, and ecology and life are in a virtuous cycle, and progress is still accelerating.

But after all, it has been destroyed by people for more than two thousand years (using the Qin and Han Dynasties as the standard). To repair the thousand-year trauma, hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of the Loess Plateau can only be said to have begun to restore its ecology in just a few decades. The clues must go through the efforts of several generations to achieve the goal. Only in this way can we truly achieve "the emergence of saints and the clearing of the Yellow River". This saint is not an individual, but the working people themselves.