Xinhua News Agency reporters Zhao Zehui and Zhu Wenzhe.
More than eight years ago, commercial logging of natural forests in key state-owned forest areas in the Daxing'an Mountains of Inner Mongolia was completely stopped. The last tree that was cut down that year is now quietly left in place, and the tree next to it, which was also in the cutting plan back then, was specially left behind, and now it grows even thicker.
This is designed to express the idea that deforestation is not the end, but a new beginning. Song Kaiting, director of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group, said.
As the largest concentrated contiguous state-owned forest area in China, the key state-owned forest area of Daxinganling in Inner Mongolia covers an area of 10670,000 square kilometers, of which 8 are forests370,000 square kilometers, with a forest volume of 94.1 billion cubic meters.
Song Kaiting said that in recent years, the key state-owned forest area of Daxinganling in Inner Mongolia has fully opened the mode of "hanging axe and stopping sawing", and through a series of reform measures, it has changed timber production to high-quality protection of forest trees, so that this forest, which has produced more than 200 million cubic meters of timber in more than 60 years, has entered a new chapter of development.
Scenery of Genheyuan National Wetland Park in Daxing'anling, Inner Mongolia. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
It is necessary not only to keep the ecological red line, but also to protect the bottom line of people's livelihood, which is a topic that must be faced in the process of promoting the reform of state-owned forest areas. Song Kaiting said, "Now the protection of the ecological environment of the forest area has taken shape, mature, on this basis, to better realize the transformation of lucid waters and lush mountains into gold and silver mountains with industrial development, and to find ways to improve the income of forestry workers, has become a key direction of our work." ”
The process of putting the felled timber on a tractor and transporting it from the mountain to the bottom of the mountain is called "skidding", and Zhang Dehui, a forestry worker at the Genhe Forest Industry Company, has been doing the "skidding" work for more than 20 years.
When I first stopped logging, I was suddenly not allowed to do the familiar business, and for a while I was very confused, and I didn't know what to do, and I didn't know how to live. Zhang Dehui said.
As the deputy director of the Wuli Kuma Forest Farm of Genhe Forest Industry Company, Li Chengzhi, who has worked in the forest farm for more than 20 years, understands the state of the "Zhang Dehui" very well. In order to allow everyone to have something to do and make money after the logging is stopped, he and his co-workers discussed relying on the dense forest around the camp of the labor team to combine the culture of the labor team with forest eco-tourism for many years to develop tourism.
In the early stage of the preparation of tourist spots, there was a lack of funds, and everyone did not have enough money, so it was difficult to call on workers to raise funds and buy shares. Li Chengzhi recalled that Genhe Forest Industry Company was very supportive of their development of tourism, providing an interest-free loan of 500,000 yuan, and some workers also used their "family funds" to support the construction of tourist spots. In this way, the tourist spot named after the former small worker team "517 small worker team" was completed and opened in 2015.
After years of development, today's "517 Small Worker Team" has 22 rooms, all of which are "handmade" by forest farm workers. Tourists can sleep in the Chase shop, eat authentic Northeast cuisine, and can also see the tractors and other machinery used to transport timber in those years, as well as old objects such as axes and saws, helmets, and uniforms used for logging in those years, which is full of a sense of age. "There are a lot of tourists this summer, and the average income of employees has increased by more than 7,000 yuan. Li Chengzhi said.
Tourists experience the forest industry culture in the "517 Small Workers' Team". (Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
Since the beginning of this year, the scenic spots operated by Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group have received more than 600,000 tourists. Yan Yi, executive deputy director of the Industrial Division of Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group, said that in order to achieve "stop, stabilize, and not" forest areas, under the premise of ensuring forest ecological security, we will vigorously promote ecological industrialization and industrial ecology. "In addition to the development of tourism, we also focus on the development of black fungus planting, birch sap beverage processing and other understory industries, where lucid waters and lush mountains have truly become gold and silver. ”
After the cessation of logging, the forest area 1650,000 workers who were originally engaged in production were placed in forest fire prevention, management and management positions, changing from "tree cutters" to "tree watchers".
In order to improve the enthusiasm of employees and enhance the quality of forest management and protection, Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group has established a new performance appraisal system for management and protection responsibilities to stimulate the vitality of the system and mechanism. "We insist on tilting the wage adjustment to the front line, and the average annual salary of on-the-job employees exceeds 80,000 yuan, an increase of 84% over 2016. Fang Guangwen, director of the Natural Forest Resources Protection Office of Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group, said.
The new system has made us more motivated to work and understand the meaning of moving from cutting down trees to looking at them. Gao Wuquan, a ranger, said he was not only on duty at the station to conduct fire inspections, but also to patrol the mountains to prevent indiscriminate logging, poaching and poaching. Over the years, he has become more accurate in his judgment of forest pests and diseases than in the past.
Since 2018, Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group has completed a total of 33.2 million mu of forest tending, 580,000 mu of artificial reforestation, 1.51 million mu of replanting and replanting, and 400,000 mu of degraded forest restoration, with a net increase of 810,000 mu in forest area, and the forest coverage rate has increased year by year.
Green trees can also be turned into "golden forests". The total forest carbon storage in the Daxing'an Mountains of Inner Mongolia was stable at 17More than 200 million tons, after the commercial logging of natural forests was stopped, they began to explore the implementation of carbon sink trading to promote the transformation of ecological benefits into economic benefits.
The income from the sale of forestry carbon sequestration products can supplement the expenditure on ecological protection and construction projects such as forest management, tending and afforestation after the cessation of logging, so that employees can strengthen their confidence in ecological protection and provide ecological products. Bao Guoqing, director of the carbon sink management office of Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group, said that they are building the country's largest state-owned forest carbon sink reserve base, and have achieved more than 50 million yuan of forestry carbon sink trading income.
The forests are getting taller and denser, and now they can not only 'grow green', but also 'produce gold', and we have more hope. Gao Wuquan said.