The Hetao Plain in June is full of vitality and vitality. Walking into the state-owned Xinhua Forest Farm in Linhe District, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, I saw lush trees, foliage, villages and farmland as if resting in the verdant cradle.
Towering poplars cast patches of shade on the sand, knee-high purple locusts hung with wind chime-like flowers, and forestry workers led reporters into the depths of the forest in northern Xinjiang to talk freely about the process of forest farms to control sand and afforestation.
This is a scene of the state-owned Xinhua Forest Farm in Linhe District taken on June 6. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Zhipeng
This forest farm is located in the hinterland of the Hetao Plain. The Hetao Plain is an important grain and oil production base in China, but farmland was once plagued by problems such as salinization and desertification. "In the seventies and eighties of the last century, yellow sand flew in the spring and autumn, and the saplings planted had just grown a handful of height, and the sandstorm was all buried, and the crops had to be planted three or four times to survive." Du Wenwen, director of Xinhua Forest Farm, recalled.
"In order to protect farmland and get more grain, we must control sand and afforestation." Xinhua Forest Farm was established in 1960, and in 1978, it took sand prevention and control as the main direction of attack, and successively carried out ecological projects such as the "Three North" shelter forest system project and the treatment of wind and sand sources in Beijing and Tianjin, with a cumulative afforestation area of 3,9 mu, and the forest coverage rate in the forest farm has increased to 65%.
Stroking a poplar tree more than 20 meters tall, Du Wenwen said: "This tree was planted in 1978, the year when the 'Three North' project began. Over the decades, it took three generations of forest workers to create this lush forest. ”
On June 6, workers at the state-owned Xinhua Forest Farm in Linhe District tended to protect trees. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Zhipeng
In the year of the establishment of the farm, Li Guihe became the first generation of employees of the forest farm. In the sixties and seventies of the 20th century, planting trees depended entirely on manpower. Li Guihe and his colleagues were like tireless old scalpers, bending down in the sand day and night to dig pits, plant trees, and water water, and he suffered from back pain. Forestry workers describe that "planting a tree requires three kowtows", because of the difficult conditions and low survival rate, everyone is desperate for the seedlings to grow into small trees in the sand as soon as possible.
Li Guihe's son, Li Changqing, came to the forest farm in 1986, took over his father's shovel and bucket, and continued to plant trees. "The spirit of the older generation of forestry workers who are brave in their mission and brave hardships has always inspired me. Everyone knows that afforestation is difficult, but in order for our children and grandchildren not to suffer from the environment, we must persist in afforestation work. ”
With the integration of modern science and technology into afforestation, the efficiency and quality of afforestation have been greatly improved. Li Changqing said that his father dug a tree pit 60 centimeters deep for at least ten minutes, and we could dig a tree pit in 20 seconds with a digging machine. Beidou satellite navigation system is also involved in afforestation work, providing reference for forest resource planning and design, and navigation and positioning during forest fire monitoring.
Holding saplings and "fighting" with wind and sand for many years, forestry workers have explored a set of afforestation methods that meet local conditions. Around the tall poplar trees, there are small sandbags more than one meter tall, with shrubs growing on them. Ge Wenbin, deputy director of Xinhua Forest Farm, pointed to these small sandbags and said, this place has a lot of northwest wind, we plant trees between the sand dunes at the downwind outlet, and the rows of small trees are like sluices to block the quicksand, and the sand accumulates more and more, and the low-lying land between the dunes becomes a soil bag, realizing the treatment of sand locking.
"In the past, the survival rate of afforestation was less than 50%, and some people questioned that we planted trees in vain, but we thought that since there are trees that can live, it means that trees can be planted in this land, but we have not yet found a scientific method." Du Wenhua said, "Through continuous attempts, we have finally found a set of methods to adapt to local conditions, paying attention to the height of trees, thickness and shrubs, and the survival rate is also increasing." ”
On June 6, rangers from the state-owned Xinhua Forest Farm in Linhe District climbed the watchtower to prepare for patrol work. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Zhipeng
As he spoke, there was a sound of crackling in the trees, and Du Wenwen said with a smile: "It may be that the hare came out to walk." "With the increase of forest coverage, the ecological environment of Xinhua forest site in the area has improved significantly, and 84 species of wild animals such as foxes and doves, 36 species of wild plants and more than 10 species of fish have settled in the forest farm.
Clusters of white flowers dancing in the sand, soft and tough. "This is the Chinese medicinal material bitter beans, farmers often say, 'where bitter beans grow, you can open the land to grow crops', and the soil environment in this area has been improved, and it is no longer barren sand." Looking at the bitter beans in front of him, Du Wenhua thought of the future of the forest farm, "The forest farm is planning to develop the economy under the forest, which can grow cistanche and wolfberries, and can also raise cattle, and cow dung can also fertilize trees." ”
Xinhua Forest Farm is a vivid portrayal of sand control and afforestation in the northern part of the motherland. Wang Zhaosheng, secretary of the party group and director of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said that there are 292 such state-owned forest farms in Inner Mongolia. From 1978 to 2020, the region has completed a total of 1 million mu of construction tasks for the "Three North" shelter forest system, accounting for 19.25% of the country.
"We foresters will continue to work hard for a long time to build the Great Green Wall and ecological safety barrier in northern Xinjiang into a fully functional and unbreakable one." Du Wenwen said firmly.
Xinhua News Agency reporters Zhang Lina, Wei Jingyu, and Wang Jing