XINING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Qinghai Province spent more than 100 million yuan (around 16 million U.S. dollars) on wetland preservation last year, local authorities announced Saturday.

Some 47 million yuan was spent on preservation and restoration projects in more than 12 national wetland parks and Qilian Mountains Nature Reserve in 2017, according to Ma Jianhai, director of the Qinghai Provincial Wetland Protection Management Center.

Another 75 million yuan was spent on environmental protection of several lakes including Qinghai Lake, China's largest inland saltwater lake, Ma said.

In addition, the province spent more than 20 million yuan on a wetland ranger project. More than 960 rangers have been employed to monitor rare birds and water resources, and collect garbage in the wetlands.

Qinghai has the largest area of wetlands in China, covering over 8 million hectares and is home to 19 national wetland parks.