The demonstration area is located in a mobile sand dune (Jilin side) at the west 1km of Xinhetun, Tongfa Ranch, Tongyu County (only 1km from the border of Jimeng), with a total area of 100 hectares. In 2000, Wan Ping, the founder, resigned from his public office and visited the Horqin Sandy Land on foot for 2,500 square kilometers, where the predecessor of the demonstration area, the Horqin Sandy Land (Wanping) Governance Area, was established. Facing the sandy land with serious desertification, Wanping has explored the ecological protection road of "restoring vegetation, cultivating land with grass, developing efficiently and collectively controlling desertification" after years of hard practice. In 2005, the management area was renamed as Horqin Sandy Land (Wanping) Eco-economic Demonstration Zone, which marked that ecological protection had entered the stage of comprehensive protection and promotion from restoration and management. After more than 9 years' practice, the eco-economic demonstration zone in Horqin Sandy Land (Wanping) has gradually developed into an environmental protection organization (NGO) with volunteers as the main body and standardized organizational management principles and rules and regulations as the purpose, leading residents in ecologically degraded areas to explore the sustainable development path of combining ecology and economy. In 2006, Tongyu County Environmental Volunteers Association was formally registered on the basis of the demonstration area, which is also the first environmental NGO organization in Horqin Sandy Land. The birth of the association made the demonstration area embark on the road of standardizing and leading the masses to protect sand and protect their homes. On August 20th, 2005, the research base of socialized service (environmental protection) of China Academy of Social Sciences was formally established in the demonstration area. In the same year, the ecological education base of Northeast Forestry University was established in the demonstration area. In addition, the demonstration area has become the practice base of eco-environmental education of Beijing Normal University and College of Social Sciences of Jilin University.
The demonstration area aims to restore the degraded ecological environment of Horqin sandy land, rebuild the ecosystem of arbor, shrub and grass plants, prevent desertification from invading grassland and farmland, create a harmonious living space for people, animals and plants, and explore the road of efficient agriculture suitable for the local original ecological environment. The work is mainly divided into four parts: (1) restoring the original vegetation in the sandy land on a large scale, and establishing a protected area for the returning animals and plants to protect; Planting poplars and seabuckthorn around the reserve as an ecological barrier for windbreak and hunting; Select 1% improved high-quality sandy land to plant high-efficiency economic forest instead of the traditional extensive planting and thin harvesting planting mode; Education on environmental protection for farmers, primary and secondary school students, college students and other people at all levels aims to change the concept of survival and enhance environmental awareness.
Tongyu County, Jilin Province is a national poverty-stricken county, and it is also a county with large land desertification, with 40,000 hectares of mobile sand dunes and 260,000 hectares of sandy land. Located in the ecotone between agriculture and animal husbandry, it has been recognized by experts as a key prevention and control area of land desertification. The soil in this area is mostly aeolian sandy soil, with very dry climate and frequent sandstorms. In previous years, the data of the Meteorological Bureau was that the annual precipitation was about 350mm and the evaporation was1800 mm. According to the field records in the demonstration area, in recent years, the precipitation is getting less and less every year. Without precipitation, wild vegetation and crops can't grow, which leads to the rapid movement of quicksand on the surface, and the number of sandstorms is more and more every year. According to the field records: 200 1 year, from the beginning of March to the end of May, 2002, there were 22 strong winds and 22 sandstorms. In 2003 and 2004, from February to the end of June, there were 29 and 38 games respectively. Especially in the spring of 2004, the gale of magnitude 8 or above lasted for 7 days. From 2000 to 200 1 year, the geographical conditions are as follows: the soil moisture is zero, and the locals call it "Huoshatuozi"; The surface vegetation is almost zero (because the grass growing after July 1 can't survive the winter), the summer temperature reaches 46℃, and the sand surface temperature reaches 58℃; Northwest-southeast wind (2-6 meters deep) flowing sand dunes and wind erosion grooves (ditches) are typical landforms of Horqin sandy land.
The local farmers mainly focus on agriculture and animal husbandry, and the crops are mostly miscellaneous grains and beans. Depending on the weather, typical extensive planting and poor harvest-the yield of mung beans is 200-800 kg per hectare, and the income is 250- 1000 yuan. There is a local saying that "plant a slope, pull a cart, make a basket and cook a pot". This result makes people work hard to cultivate as much land as possible, which is a vicious circle. In order to survive and develop, each household grows more than 10 hectare of sandy land on average. This is a typical deforestation and desertification.