This man is the guardian of Lake Urmia Mohsen Ghased: I left my life at the lake

The story of Mohsen Ghased's love for Lake Urmia has a long history. He has been the messenger of good and bad news of this nostalgic lake for Iranians for many years and has a lot to say about it.

Ambassador Arjan-Rabieh Timuri: The glorious moment of the return of flamingos to the arms of Lake Urmia and the soaring of rescued pelicans over the waters of the lake and the flooding of the bed of this important and nostalgic water area are pure and happy events that have been depicted through the lens of Mohsen Qasid's camera. Qased captures these beautiful and sensual scenes in detail and publishes them in the virtual space so that people from all over Iran will feel better when they see the good condition of the largest lake in their country, but no one knows what sad moments he spent alone behind the pictures and short clips he publishes of the lake's unhappiness and misery. Qased has been taking care of Lake Urmia for many years without pay, and these days, with the release of a video of the rescue of several trapped pelicans, he has once again drawn attention to this lake.

From the very first days of summer, when the heat of the air made the water depth of the largest saltwater lake in the Middle East less and less every day, Mohsen Ghased became worried about the birds that visit the lake from time to time, or that this wetland is their permanent home and habitat. His concern was not without reason and every day with the help of local environmental activists, he had to save kakais, avosts and pelicans whose wings were blocked by the salt of the lake bed and drinking the salt water of the lake endangered their health. The beautiful short video that he released of the release of several pieces of pelicans in the satellite wetlands of Lake Urmia, which made environmentalists happy, was the happy result of these efforts and compassion for several months.

The story of Qased fighting to save life and restore the passion of life to Lake Urmia has a long history, and he is trying to change the dangerous habits of shepherds and farmers who carelessly take a bite from this blessed table of God. Many ways and half-way have gone: "One of the most important pests of Lake Urmia is the unlimited harvesting of farmers who, under the pretext of having rights, divert the river's water to their agricultural lands and cause its water shortage. Many shepherds also damage the saline vegetation of the lake while grazing their animals. The carelessness of shepherds and tourists in taking care of this valuable vegetation has caused many fires on the shore of the lake, which would have caused a lot of damage to the lake if we were slow to control and extinguish it. This act of wearing the messenger was not without cost for him: "In the beginning, there were so many oppositions and confrontations that when I was alone at one of the water canal exits preparing a report, some people surrounded me and tried to beat me, but little by little, many farmers found out about my protests and apologized to me for the opposition and harassment they had."

The guard of Urmia lake is educated in law and his job has nothing to do with his hobbies, but his bias towards the lake makes him when he sees the fever and discomfort of the lake, he does not tolerate the delays and pauses of the officials and the completion of the paperwork to deal with it, and he himself starts work earlier than them: "A few years ago, when the water level of the lake reached its lowest level due to lack of rain, the experts decided that in order to revive the lake, The dredging of its paths should be done sooner. When we and a number of environmentalists saw that the action of the responsible institutions for dredging was delayed, we put aside our work for a while and took upon ourselves the dredging of the rivers and streams leading to the lake.

About 11 years have passed since the day when Qased put his camera on his shoulder and photographed the permanent wetland of Urmia, but in order to give all his strength to the lake, he had to give up photography. Let the lake be my only photography subject and use photography to document my video reports.

In these years, Qased has also found loyal and pro-Pakistan companions and helpers to clean and protect the lake: "Many of those who are interested in the environment, after seeing the videos I published about the condition of the lake, wanted to help me clean the lake, and when I asked them to join me one day every week to clean the Urmia beach, 4-5 people volunteered to help." Now the members of our group have reached 45 people, and after 4 months, when we created culture along with regular cleaning of the lake, the dumping and accumulation of garbage has decreased by 70%." The love and honesty hidden in the news that the messenger publishes about the state of the lake, not only increased the sense of responsibility of the tourists and residents of the Urmia coast, but his warnings and good news are also considered as documented news for the officials and help them in dealing with the biggest inland lake of the country.

His love for Lake Urmia is rooted in the memories of his childhood days, and sweet family vacations on the shore of the lake have made him feel a special sense of belonging to this nostalgic reservoir: "I have been very prejudiced towards the lake since I was a child. Lake Urmia is one of the constant images and happy memories that have been imprinted in my mind since childhood and adolescence, and many of my family and I's vacations have been spent on its shore. »

For Ramtin, the only son of the guardian of the lake, who saw his father's endless sorrows and worries for Lake Urmia, in every wave of the waters of this precious natural heritage of Iranians, there is an untold story that only he and his father know about.