Jointly sponsored by Grassland Monitoring and Supervision Center, MOA and China-Canada Sustainable Agriculture Development Project (SADP, Phase II), a 3-day training workshop on “Grassland Monitoring and Grassland Ecology” was held in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, on September 4-6, 2007. The participants of this training, 78 persons in total, include specialists and managers from the 6 project provinces and another 15 provinces. Liu Jiawen, Deputy Director of Grassland Monitoring and Supervision Center,, Liu Zhimin, Deputy Director of Gansu Provincial Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, and Mr. Brant Kirychuk, manager of SADP, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony of the meeting. Mr. Li Bing, a deputy division chief of Grassland Monitoring and Supervision Center, and Mr. Brant Kirychuk, co-chaired the meeting.

The theme of this training workshop is grassland monitoring and ecological health evaluation, aiming to provide advice for grassland supervision and technical extension. Attending the meeting were experts and scholars from both China and Canada, who were: Dr. Jeff Thorpe, senior researcher and botanical ecologist, and Dr. Zoheir Abouguendia, senior botanical ecologist, both from Saskatchewan, Canada, Mr. Xing Qi, President of Inner Mongolia Institute of Grassland Survey and Design, Mr. Ren Jizhou, member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Ms. Wu Dongxiu, research fellow of Botanical Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Zhao Mengli, the project expert, and Prof. Nan Zhibiao, President of the College of Grassland Agricultural Technology, Lanzhou University.

From September 4-5 lectures and discussions were held on the subjects including: grassland remote-sensing and monitoring technology (3S), evaluation of grassland ecology, quality control of grassland monitoring data, vegetation sampling technology, quantitative evaluation of health and service functions in the grassland ecological system, and the current situation of diseases and insects and the method for prevention of them. Through question-and-answer and group discussions, the participants were able to better understand relevant theories and have an opportunity to discuss the feasibility of all proposals with experts.

On September 6, it was time for a field visit to Zhuaxi Town, Tianzhu County, and also a climax of this training workshop. However, a sudden rain early in the morning made the experts and the trainees feel uneasy. On the expressway to Tianzhu, the rain beat pit-a-pat on the bus windscreen and the temperature dropped from 25 degree to 12 degree, so every body had to put on heavier clothes. But when they arrived at Tianzhu, the rain dwindled and gradually stopped. A beam of sunshine flushed into the bus, with high mountains in the distance, blue sky and white clouds just like a watercolor painting. Everybody changed into a happy mood and wondered that the heaven should cooperate! On the grassland, the Canadian experts used the section of a piece of grassland soil as an example for everybody to see personally the quality of the soil. Afterwards, guided by the experts, the trainees split into groups to conduct a field practice by evaluating the health status of the grassland. Despite the cold weather on the plateau, everybody was very earnest to collect samples, discuss problems and answer questions, thinking that such a simple evaluating method introduced by the Canadian experts was very useful.

The success of this training workshop was achieved through the active participation of the trainees and the meticulous planning, coordination and arrangement by MOA Grassland Monitoring and Supervision Center. Also, the success came from the attention and support by Gansu Provincial Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, and more importantly, came from the good cooperation and arrangement by Gansu Provincial General Station of Grassland Technical Extension and Grassland Monitoring and Supervision Station. China-Canada Sustainable Agriculture Development Project sincerely hoped this training workshop would be able to promote all the provinces to develop local methods for evaluating the health status of grassland, thus protecting our grassland in a better way.