After the 1949 Chinese revolution, refugees from the 1950s Anti-Rightist Movement settled in the area west of Qinghai Lake. After the Chinese economic reform in the 1980s, drawn by new business opportunities, migration to the area increased, causing ecological stresses. Fresh grass production in Gangcha County north of the lake declined from a mean of to in 1987. In 2001, the State Forestry Administration of China launched the "Retire Cropland, Restore Grasslands" () campaign and started confiscating Tibetan and Mongol pastoralists' guns, allegedly in order to preserve the endangered Przewalski's gazelle.