Chongming gets funds to clear invasive plants
Print Edition
THE city government is pumping in a billion yuan in the Chongming Dongtan Wetlands to clean up smooth cordgrass, an invasive plant that expands rapidly and eats into food available for birds.
Also called Spartina alterniflora Loisel, the grass with thick roots, was brought from the US to Chongming in 1990s to stabilize sands. It has occupied nearly half of the vegetative cover in the wetlands since then and created an environment unsuitable for birds to survive.
The grass now occupies some 20 square kilometer area in the wetland. The reserve is removing the grass by mowing it and soaking its root in water. The entire operation is expected to be completed in early 2017.
“It’s an invasive species which grows very well here, which means it takes the place of some local plants, such as scirpus mariqueter (grass-like species), which is an important source of food for birds,” said Wu Wei, a management staffer at the Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve.
Of late, due to land reclamation, industrial pollution and overfishing, the wetland areas are reducing every year. The nature experts have been calling for a legislative protection of wetlands.
According to Ren Wenwei, director of Shanghai Conservation Programme, WWF, in China’s land classification, wetlands are marked as unused land and therefore they are often used for the construction of ports, farmlands and fishponds.
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