Forest ranger Eli Niyaz pours sand out of his shoe after finishing a patrol in Yuli County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 19, 2019. Wriggling along the rim of the Taklimakan desert, the 1,321-km-long Tarim River in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region nurtures the largest area of populus euphratica forests in the world. As local government launched a project on populus euphratica forest restoration along the Tarim River three years ago, the vegetation has been increasing and forest rangers have been playing a more and more important role on eco-system improvement. Eli Niyaz, 46, has been engaging in forest protection for 26 years. He and his colleagues take care of populus euphratica trees covering over 12,480,000 hectares of land in the remote region far away from their families. Every day, Eli Niyaz needs to patrol dozens of kilometers through different terrains to make sure the populus euphratica forests are in good situation. "It is tough, but I know the value of each tree of populus euphratica. I like to guard them, as they guard my hometown." He said. (Xinhua/Zhao Ge)