Hulunbuir grassland is one of the largest remaining temperate grassland ecosystems on Earth, stretching across roughly 100,000 square kilometers of Inner Mongolia in northeastern China. It sits in the gentle hills of the Greater Khingan Range, where a semi-arid continental climate produces long, frigid winters and short, cool summers. The landscape looks timeless from a distance, but over the past several decades it has been reshaped by overgrazing, climate shifts, soil carbon loss, and policy experiments that sometimes help and sometimes create new problems.
What Grows There and Why It Matters
Hulunbuir’s vegetation is arranged by topography. The hilltops support meadow steppe dominated by Siberian filiform grass, the middle slopes are home to Baikal needle grass, and the valley bottoms are covered by Leymus chinensis, a robust perennial grass that herders prize as forage. Of these, the Baikal needle grass meadow steppe is the most characteristic plant community of the region.1Acta Ecologica Sinica. Variation of soil respiration and its environmental factors in Hulunber meadow steppe This zonation matters because each belt responds differently to grazing, drought, and restoration efforts. Lose the perennial grasses on one slope and you do not simply get bare dirt; you get a shift toward forbs and annual weeds that hold the soil less effectively and store far less carbon underground.
Rainfall and temperature together drive how much plant material the grassland produces in any given year. Research on below-ground root biomass in Hulunbuir found that annual precipitation had a positive effect on root growth while higher mean annual temperatures reduced it.2PubMed Central. Relationships of Biomass with Environmental Factors in the Grassland Area of Hulunbuir, China Microclimate Shapes the Biomass Dynamic In practical terms, a warm, dry year hits the grassland twice: less rain means less growth, and higher temperatures further suppress root systems that anchor the soil against wind erosion.
What Grazing Actually Does to the Land
Hulunbuir has been grazed by livestock for centuries, so these grasslands evolved alongside herbivory. The trouble is not grazing itself but its intensity. Studies across temperate grasslands show that long-term grazing compacts the top layer of soil, slashing infiltration rates. In one long-running experiment, surface infiltration dropped from about 28.5 centimeters per day on ungrazed land to just 5 centimeters per day under moderate or heavy stocking.3Transactions of the ASAE. Long-term grazing density impacts on soil compaction That compaction stays in the upper ten centimeters or so, but that shallow layer is exactly where rain enters the soil. When water runs off instead of soaking in, plants get less moisture and erosion accelerates.
In Hulunbuir’s meadow steppe specifically, increasing stocking rates led to a clear linear decline in standing biomass over a three-year trial. Perennial grasses decreased while forbs and annual plants filled the gaps. Canopy height and coverage dropped substantially at higher grazing intensities, though overall species diversity did not change much in the short term, likely because the grassland’s long evolutionary history with grazing gives it some built-in resilience.4Rangeland Ecology & Management. Impacts of Differing Grazing Rates on Canopy Structure and Species Composition in Hulunber Meadow Steppe The shift from tall perennial grasses to shorter forbs and annuals may look like a cosmetic change, but it reduces the canopy’s ability to shield soil from wind and intercept rainfall.
Heavier grazing also alters soil chemistry. Field measurements across sites with different grazing histories in the region showed that bulk density rose significantly with grazing intensity, while soil nitrate levels climbed and pH dropped in the most heavily grazed areas.5Soil Biology and Biochemistry. Light grazing reduces gaseous nitrogen emissions from temperate grassland soils during freeze‒thaw cycles The acidification and nutrient imbalance can persist long after livestock are removed, making recovery slower than you might expect.
Four Decades of Disappearing Soil Carbon
One of the most sobering trends in Hulunbuir is the decline in soil organic carbon, the reservoir of carbon stored in the top layer of earth. Spatial prediction data covering the region show that average soil organic carbon content fell from about 40 grams per kilogram in 1980 to roughly 32 grams per kilogram in 2022. Among land-use types, grassland soils lost about 19 percent of their organic carbon over that period, forests lost about 23 percent, and wetlands lost about 24 percent.6Scientia Agricultura Sinica. Temporal and Spatial Variation Characteristics of Soil Organic Carbon in Hulunbuir and Its Influencing Factors The pattern across both time periods showed higher carbon in the central part of the region and lower values toward the western and eastern margins.
What makes this tricky for restoration planners is that plant carbon and soil carbon do not always move in lockstep during degradation. Research on Hulunbuir’s meadow steppe found that while plant carbon storage, especially in aboveground living biomass and litter, dropped sharply as degradation worsened (by about 76 and 88 percent in heavily degraded sites), soil organic carbon storage remained relatively stable across the degradation gradient.7Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology. Grassland degradation drives the asymmetric response of plant and soil carbon storage That asymmetry means the visible signs of degradation, shorter grass, less litter, more bare ground, can be dramatic while the soil carbon pool underneath appears fine. But the regional data cited above show that over decades, soil carbon does eventually decline too. The lag between losing plant carbon and losing soil carbon creates a false sense of security.
Wind Erosion and the Fight Against Desertification
Hulunbuir sits in a transition zone between forest and steppe, and that boundary area is especially vulnerable to wind erosion. Using a revised wind-erosion equation, researchers tracked total soil wind erosion across the Hulunbuir forest-steppe ecotone in 2000, 2010, and 2018. The trajectory followed an arc: erosion rose from about 97 million tons in 2000 to 133 million tons in 2010, then fell to about 85 million tons in 2018.8Journal of Ecology and Rural Environment. Spatio-temporal Change and Driving Forces of Soil Wind Erosion Amount in Hulunbuir Forest-steppe Ecotone By 2018, roughly nine percent of the study area had lower wind-erosion intensity compared to 2000, while only a tenth of a percent had gotten worse.
The biggest driver of that improvement was increased grassland vegetation cover, which accounted for about 69 percent of the reduction in wind erosion. Sealing degraded sandy land contributed another 19 percent. Natural forest protection and withdrawal of land from farming played smaller roles.9Journal of Ecology and Rural Environment. Spatio-temporal Change and Driving Forces of Soil Wind Erosion Amount in Hulunbuir Forest-steppe Ecotone This is one of the genuine success stories in the region: targeted ecological measures have measurably reduced soil loss. But the gains are fragile. The same analysis found that interactions between human activities and climate change were the primary drivers of erosion change, meaning that a drought lasting several years could undo much of the progress if vegetation cover thins out again.
Climate Change and a Drought That Will Not Let Go
Between 1961 and 2018, Hulunbuir’s temperature and precipitation both increased, while relative humidity and sunshine hours both declined. That combination sounds contradictory, fewer sunny hours but more warmth, but it reflects shifts in cloud cover and seasonal distribution of heat. More troubling is what happened after 2011: drought set in and, based on analysis of available data, is most likely to continue in the future.10Journal of Nanjing Forestry University (Natural Sciences Edition). The impact of climate change on forest and grassland fires and future trends in Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia Under future projections, temperature is expected to keep rising in a pattern similar to the past, but precipitation, humidity, and sunshine-hour trends may reverse, creating conditions even more favorable for drought.
Persistent drought in Hulunbuir does not just shrink the growing season. It raises fire risk across both the grassland and the adjacent boreal forests of the Greater Khingan Range. Drier conditions also accelerate the wind-erosion cycle described above, since thinner vegetation cover exposes more bare ground to spring gales. For herders, sustained drought means less forage, more supplemental feed costs, and harder decisions about herd size. The grassland’s resilience depends heavily on moisture, and if the dry spell stretches into the 2030s as some models suggest, the region’s ecological trajectory could shift in ways that are difficult to reverse.
Wildlife Trapped by Fences
One of the least discussed pressures on Hulunbuir’s grassland involves the very infrastructure built to manage it. Across Inner Mongolia, millions of kilometers of wire fencing divide pastures into individual household plots, a legacy of the privatization of grazing rights. According to reporting from the Inner Mongolia Forestry and Grassland Bureau, large-area wire fences in areas including Hulunbuir have completely blocked seasonal migration corridors for Mongolian gazelles and goitered gazelles. Animals that cannot migrate become trapped in shrinking patches of forage, and concentrated grazing by these trapped ungulates accelerates grassland degradation by an estimated 42 percent compared to areas with natural movement. Fences also cut off access to autumn and winter water sources, causing recurring wildlife deaths from dehydration.11Research Square. Harm and Countermeasures of Blade Barbed Wire Hard Isolation Facilities to Wildlife
The irony is hard to miss: fences were installed partly to prevent overgrazing by controlling where livestock go, but they simultaneously worsen degradation by concentrating wild herbivores into areas they cannot leave. Solutions being discussed include replacing razor-wire barriers with wildlife-friendly smooth-wire designs and creating designated migration corridors. But rewiring hundreds of thousands of hectares of fencing is an enormous logistical and financial challenge, and herders who depend on those fences to protect their allocated pasture have understandable reservations about removing them.
Migratory Birds and the Broader Ecosystem
Hulunbuir is not just a grassland story. The region’s rivers, wetlands, and lakes sit within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, one of the busiest migratory bird routes on the planet. Herbivorous waterfowl, including species that breed in the Arctic, pass through northeastern China on their way north each spring. Tracking data show that these birds arrive in the Northeast China Plain in early April, after seeds have become available but before new vegetation has fully emerged, and they depart around mid-May once fresh green growth provides enough food.12Royal Society Publishing. Migratory herbivorous waterfowl track multiple resource waves during spring migration
The condition of Hulunbuir’s wetlands directly affects whether stopover habitat is available during this critical window. Drought reduces water levels in the shallow lakes and marshes that waterfowl depend on. Fertilizer runoff from adjacent cropland can change wetland nutrient profiles, shifting the plant communities that provide food. And the same soil carbon losses affecting the grassland also erode the organic-rich soils around wetland margins, reducing invertebrate habitat. A degraded grassland does not just lose grass; it frays the entire web of ecosystems that depend on the moisture, nutrients, and stability the grassland provides.
Herder Livelihoods Under Eco-Compensation Schemes
Since the early 2010s, China’s national Grassland Ecosystem Subsidy and Award Scheme (known as GESAS) has tried to reduce grazing pressure by paying herders to limit stocking rates or refrain from grazing certain areas entirely. The idea is straightforward: compensate herders for the income they lose when they run fewer animals. In practice, the effects are more complicated.
Across Inner Mongolia, GESAS did reduce direct on-farm income as expected, since herders ran fewer animals. But the program also encouraged herders to shift toward more intensive production, buying supplemental feed and investing more per animal rather than relying solely on grazing.13Ecological Economics. Analysis Effect of Eco-compensation Schemes on Household Income Structures and Herder Satisfaction That intensification is a double-edged outcome. On the positive side, fewer animals on the grassland means less trampling and more time for vegetation to recover. On the negative side, confined livestock fed on purchased grain or hay shift the environmental burden elsewhere, to croplands that produce the feed, while also raising herders’ costs.
A survey of 427 pastoral households in the Hulunbuir grasslands found that overall livelihood assets were low, averaging about 2.3 on a seven-point scale. The natural asset index, which reflects things like pasture quality and water access, scored lowest of all asset types at just 0.14.14Land Use Policy. Linking sustainable livelihoods with sustainable grassland use and conservation These households are not prosperous ranchers making comfortable trade-offs. Many are operating close to the margin, and asking them to reduce herd sizes without offering viable alternative livelihoods creates real hardship. The gap between what environmental policy demands and what pastoral households can absorb is one of the central tensions in Hulunbuir’s future.
Tourism as an Overlooked Pressure
Hulunbuir has become an increasingly popular tourist destination, marketed for its vast open landscapes and traditional Mongolian culture. Visitor numbers have grown substantially, bringing economic benefits to a region that needs them. But grassland tourism comes with physical impacts that are easy to underestimate. Field comparisons between tourist-use plots and nearby control plots in Hulunbuir found that the height of dominant plants, plant coverage, species diversity, and above-ground biomass were all significantly lower in areas used by tourists.15IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. Grassland degradation caused by tourism activities in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China Dominant plant height was the most affected variable, which makes sense: foot traffic, vehicle tracks, and temporary structures crush tall grasses first.
Tourism damage tends to be concentrated in small areas around access roads, yurt camps, and scenic viewpoints, so it is easy to dismiss as minor compared to region-wide grazing. But those concentrated patches often sit in the most visually appealing, ecologically intact parts of the grassland, meaning the highest-quality habitat gets hit disproportionately. Managing this requires restricting vehicle access, rotating tourist sites between years to allow recovery, and capping visitor numbers at sensitive locations, all of which clash with the economic incentive to maximize tourist revenue.
Enclosure and the Science of Letting Grass Grow Back
The simplest restoration tool in Hulunbuir is also the most effective: stop grazing a patch of land and let it recover on its own. Research comparing enclosed (fenced-off, no grazing) grassland to grazed and mowed plots found that enclosure was associated with higher species richness and lower variability in biomass, suggesting greater community stability. Grazed sites, by contrast, had lower species richness and more erratic plant community structure, linked to soil compaction and faster species turnover.16PubMed Central. Enclosure enhances grassland plant diversity and community stability more effectively than grazing and mowing by strengthening species turnover regulation and soil process driving
Enclosure works, but it has limits. Fencing off pasture for recovery is only feasible if herders have somewhere else to graze their animals or receive adequate compensation. In a region where natural assets are already the weakest link in household livelihoods, telling a family to leave their pasture unused for five or ten years is not a simple ask. There is also a biological ceiling: some heavily degraded sites have lost so much of their original seed bank that passive recovery stalls, and active reseeding or other interventions become necessary. The science supports enclosure as the most effective single tool, but deploying it at scale requires solving the human side of the equation first.
Nutrient Pollution and Disappearing Wildflowers
A less visible threat to Hulunbuir’s biodiversity comes from excess nitrogen and phosphorus entering the grassland, whether through atmospheric deposition from industrial sources, fertilizer drift from nearby cropland, or direct application to improve forage yields. Experimental nutrient additions on Hulunbuir grassland showed that both nitrogen and phosphorus drove soil acidification and boosted the dominance of species that were already dominant, while less competitive wildflower species, collectively known as forbs, were squeezed out.17PubMed Central. Responses in species diversity in the Hulunbuir grassland to phosphorus addition under nitrogen-limiting and non-limiting conditions The result is a grassland that may look green and productive but has lost much of its botanical variety.
This matters for resilience. A species-rich grassland can absorb shocks like drought, pest outbreaks, or unusually harsh winters because different species respond differently to stress, and some will fill the gaps left by others. A grassland dominated by one or two nutrient-loving grasses is more productive in good years but more vulnerable when conditions turn bad. In Hulunbuir, where drought is already a persistent concern and grazing pressure is ongoing, the last thing the ecosystem needs is a further reduction in the diversity that buffers it against collapse. Yet nutrient enrichment is harder to control than grazing because much of it arrives from diffuse sources that no single fence or policy can block.