In September, the "green gauze tent" filled the vast central Hebei plain, and the waterfall river in Xushui District of Baoding City, Hebei Province shuttled through it like a blue belt, flowing silently at the foot of Taihang Mountain, and meandering eastward into the algae pond on the westernmost side of Baiyangdian Lake.
    Overlooking the waterfall river, the water plants are swaying and the fish are shuttling. The breeze started at first, and the small waves jumped, which inadvertently alarmed a group of egrets foraging in the shallows. They flew up and then fell.
White spoonbill in waterfall river shoal
    Overlooking the mountains, the trees are lush and green, and the lakes and mountains are staggered and picturesque.
   Puhe Reservoir "Rebirth" with Water to Continue Homesickness
    Puhe Reservoir, located in Puhe Township, Xushui District, is the main stream reservoir of Puhe River, which was founded in 1958. Among the Eight Scenes of Xu Shui recorded in xushui county Xinzhi, there are three waterfalls, namely "Qingxi printing the moon", "watching fish on the bank" and "Changhong sunset". In 1980s, the reservoir area collapsed one after another, and the reservoir water decreased sharply every year. By 2008, the Puhe Reservoir had been exhausted. The beauty of water and grass is no longer there.
    Because of its remote location, harsh environment and backward infrastructure, the economy of the villages around Puhe Reservoir was once backward. "Young and middle-aged people go out to work, and most of the rest in the village are old people and women, with traditional agricultural cultivation as the main source of income." Mi Shiliang, secretary of the Party Committee of Puhe Township, said that the "presence" of Puhe Township in Xushui District at that time was very low.
Puhe Reservoir
    The ecological change of Puhe Reservoir began in 2018.
    Baoding, located in the hinterland of Beijing, Tianjin and xiong’an new area, is an important ecological barrier for Beijing, Tianjin and. In order to serve the construction of the new district, Baoding has launched an ecological defense war for Baiyangdian in an all-round way since 2018, and comprehensively implemented various comprehensive measures such as sewage treatment upgrading, rain and sewage diversion transformation, river ecological dredging, constructed wetland construction, abandoned mine restoration and treatment, and ecological water replenishment to promote the comprehensive management of the upper reaches of Baiyangdian. This has also revived the waterfall reservoir area that has been abandoned for more than 20 years.
    "The waterfall reservoir is connected to the main canal of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project and connected to the waterfall river channel. Since 2018, the reservoir has been diverting clean water from the South-to-North Water Transfer Project to replenish water for Baiyangdian." Li Liu, director of the office of Xushui District Water Conservancy Bureau, said that in 2020, the waterfall river was identified as the normalized recharge channel of Baiyangdian Lake, and since April 2018, the cumulative ecological recharge to Baiyangdian Lake has reached 450 million cubic meters.
    "On the day of water release, the reservoir was surrounded by people." Xi Xiaoxian, a villager in Jiecun Village, Puhe Township, still remembers the scene of water coming from the reservoir area. In her view, the water attracted not only filled the waterfall river, but also continued the homesickness of the villagers.
   Pollution control and greening, rare birds "in the same box"
    In order to "prevent a drop of sewage from flowing into Baiyangdian Lake", the Xu Shui Municipal Party Committee and District Government has been steadfast in tackling tough battles such as pollution control, ecological restoration and greening corridors.
    "The stable effluent of sewage treatment plants can meet the third-class water standard, which can be used for farmland irrigation and livestock drinking." According to Liu Jianjun, general manager of Xu Shui Sewage Treatment Plant, the effluent standards of all sewage treatment plants in Xushui District have reached the discharge standard of Daqing River core area, and the daily sewage treatment capacity is 30,000 cubic meters.
    Li Liu said that from 2017, the district will comprehensively establish a three-level river patrol management system at district, township and village levels, actively carry out the special action of "cleaning up the four chaos" in rivers, improve the full-time management team of reservoirs, carry out joint law enforcement of water conservancy, public security, environmental protection and neighboring township governments, and promptly investigate and deal with acts that endanger the safety of reservoirs and destroy the ecological environment.
    In addition, in recent five years, Xushui District has completed 80,900 mu of afforestation, focusing on the construction of high-speed high-speed rail corridor and 500-meter forest belt around xiong’an new area, and built a green ecological barrier in the upper reaches of Baiyangdian Lake. The ecology of the waterfall river is gradually improving.
    Wild birds are an ecological barometer. In recent years, more and more wild animals around the waterfall river have come from generation to generation.
    "In 2019, the waterfall reservoir attracted swans. In 2020, crested pheasants, kestrels, mallard ducks and spoonbills began to gather here; In 2021, a large number of geese migrated; In 2022, the national first-class protected animal Great Bustard appeared … "Shi Jianfang is a bird photographer. From the autumn of 2018 to the summer of 2022, more than 80 species of birds were photographed in the waterfall river, including more than 10 species of national first-class and second-class protected animals. He witnessed the increasing number of birds in the camera.
Great bustard on the bank of waterfall river
   The mountains and rivers are treated together, and the barren hills are "covered with green and golden"
    Landscape ecology is an organic whole, and there is a folk saying: "Planting trees on the mountain is equivalent to building a reservoir."
    Shilongshan is located in the northwest of Xushui District, separated from the Puhe Reservoir by a dike. Due to the disorderly mining in the early years, the mountain was broken and the vegetation coverage rate was less than 10%. Since 2011, Xushui District has started the ecological restoration of Shilongshan through government-enterprise linkage.
    "We have invested more than 3 billion yuan, and it took more than 10 years to raise this riddled mine from the original 10% greening rate to the current 80%." According to Shi Jianguo, the person in charge of ecological restoration in Shilongshan, the project specially hired a team of experts from Chongqing to issue a mountain restoration plan, which greatly reduced the risk of geological disasters such as landslides, mudslides and dangerous rock collapses by cutting slopes and reducing loads, lattice slope protection and anti-slide piles, and fully combined with the trend of mountain topography, selected suitable vegetation types and reshaped the ecological environment.
    After 10 years of mountain management, the "scar" faded, and the barren hills were covered with green, quietly painting an ecological picture of green mountains surrounded by water and green waters.
    Nowadays, Shilongshan has not only become the ecological barrier of the waterfall river, but also become a leisure and holiday resort with the 8,000-mu waterfall river reservoir, including agricultural formats such as land grain painting and vegetable art garden, recreational formats such as caravan camps, unpowered parks and homestays, as well as labor and practical education bases for primary and secondary school students.
   Ecological resources become rich capital, and the integration of agriculture and tourism unlocks rural revitalization.
    The waterfall river ecosystem has gradually formed, and the local government has begun to introduce social capital and high-quality projects to explore green growth points and promote the integration of agriculture and tourism.
    On the south bank of the reservoir area, Baoding Haojing Tourism Development Co., Ltd. relies on the good ecology of Shilong Mountain and waterfall river to vigorously develop agricultural industrial clusters and develop green ecological products with local characteristics, such as Moushan dry valley, Busan millet and waterfall river sunflower oil crops. At the same time, the company actively cooperates with Hebei Agricultural University, a number of leading agricultural enterprises, livestock breeding enterprises, agricultural planting bases and family farms in various forms to promote the integrated development of agriculture and tourism.
    Industrial linkage development, stretching and improving related industrial chains, creating more business opportunities for local people and enhancing the economic value of the whole region.
    Mi Shiliang said that driven by leading enterprises, the employment problem of a large number of villagers around has been solved. With the increase of tourists, the villagers’ willingness to develop homestays and farmhouses has gradually increased. What makes Mi Shiliang more gratified is that he has recently received frequent consultation calls from investors. From the "small transparency" of "nobody cares", the waterfall river township has now become the "fragrant cake" in the eyes of everyone.
   The flourishing of landscape green culture leads to new kinetic energy for development.
    "The waterfall river with a long history is not only the old course of the Yellow River, but also known as Yishui in ancient times and belongs to Nanyishui. There are many cultural allusions and sites here. " According to Mi Shiliang, there are Yangshao Cultural Site, Busan Site of Huangdi Hefu, Chiyou Solitary Tomb of Hongtu Mountain and Yannan Great Wall Site around the Waterfall River.
    With the rejuvenation of the waterfall river, the waterfall river culture has once again entered the public eye. In December, 2021, Yannan Great Wall Site was selected into the list of "One Hundred Important Archaeological Discoveries in Hebei in a Hundred Years", which attracted a large number of cultural relics workers, historical and cultural enthusiasts and tourists to "punch in".
    The ecological restoration of the waterfall river has activated the historical context. On the other hand, the prosperity of culture has also injected new development momentum into the waterfall river. On September 8th, the Waterfall River Ecological Leisure Resort made a stunning appearance at the 5th Cultural and Tourism Industry Development Conference in Baoding, opening a new historical chapter.
    One son falls and is full of vitality. The ecological restoration of the waterfall river has revitalized the local agriculture and culture, created a "waterfall river ecological leisure resort" with rich landscape and rhyme, and promoted the integration and development of the "agricultural tourism" industry. The green mountains and green hills are changing to "Jinshan Yinshan".