Summer Saihan Dam. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Chen Xiaodong)
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Saihan Dam is located in the transition zone from the Inner Mongolia Plateau to the mountains of North China.
The special geographical location and climatic conditions have nurtured the historical "forest like Han seahorse like beans". But the subsequent excessive seizure has also led to "birds without perch trees, yellow sand covering the sky".
Today, it is "the source of water, the hometown of clouds, the world of flowers, and the ocean of forests", the world's largest plantation sea of 1.2 million mu, blocking the wind and sand from invading the south and becoming an ecological barrier in the Beijing-Tianjin area. Its builders received the Champions of the Earth Award, which represents the United Nations' highest honor in the field of the environment.
What kind of natural code is hidden behind the disappearance and rebirth of this forest?
● The return of the forest
Disappearing natural gardens
The name Saihanba is a combination of the two ethnic languages of the Mongolian and Han ethnic groups, meaning "beautiful high ridge".
How beautiful is this "beautiful high ridge" in history?
Perhaps, we can glimpse it from the Chengde Summer Resort's Hall of Jingcheng.
The Hall of Jingcheng, commonly known as the Nanmu Hall, as the main hall of the entire summer resort, does not have the golden splendor of the carved beam paintings, but completely retains the true color of the golden silk Nanmu. This understated luxury is unique among ancient Chinese palace architecture.
What is less well known is that when the hall was first built more than 300 years ago, it was a pine structure, and most of the wood used came from the paddock and the Fengning Dam area more than 100 kilometers to the north.
The area of Bashang was known as the "Ghost Fang" during the Shang Zhou Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Eastern Hu nomadic tribes in the northeast expanded to this point. The history books record that at that time, the Fengning Dam, which was close to the Saihan Dam, had "giant pines like clouds", which was called "Haosong Dam" in ancient times.
At that time, the forest vegetation here was similar to that of the xing'an Mountains in the northeast, and there were mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests composed of larch and spruce, birch, poplar, and Mongolian oak.
Until 1019, when The Liao Shengzong issued the order of "forbidden wood mining", the original forest on the Chengde Dam had not yet been destroyed, and the forest coverage rate was more than 70%. At that time, SaihanBa was a natural garden with abundant water and grass, dense forests and animals, which was called "Thousand Mile Pine Forest" in the Liao and Jin Dynasties, and was once the hunting place of the emperor.
In 1681, after quelling the "Rebellion of the Three Domains", the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, after inspecting The Seychelles, even more took a fancy to this "southern Arch Beijing Division, northern control of the desert north, steep mountains and rivers, moderate mileage" of the southern Mongolian nomadic land, decided to set up a "Mulan paddock" in the name of Qaraqin, Ao Han, Weng NiuTe and other ministries "dedicated pastures, Zhaokai Spiritual Gardens, and Autumn Foxes".
Today's Saihan Dam is located in the core area of the Magnolia Paddock. Choosing this place as a royal hunting ground not only took a fancy to the natural geographical conditions at that time, but also objectively protected the forest resources.
What was the view of Saihan Dam at that time?
During the Qing Guangxu Dynasty, the "Chronicle of the Paddock Hall" recorded: "Larch trees are forested, looking like a line, riding ants, inches of people and beans, not enough to imitate." Shiren verse "Magnolia grass is the fattest, and horses are fed without beans." "It depicts the natural environment of the Magnolia Paddock with lush grass and fertile forests."
At the height of the Qing Dynasty, it was a beautiful back garden, a prestigious royal hunting garden. However, in the following hundred years, this "beautiful high ridge" gradually eclipsed:
In order to build the Yuanmingyuan and Chengde Mountain Resort, in the seven years from the 33rd to the 39th year of Qianlong (1768-1774), the Qing government cut down 340,000 ancient pine trees from the paddock.
After the "Mulan Paddock" was opened and reclaimed during the Tongzhi period, the Qing government recruited a large number of households to harvest trees, and the forest resources were plundered again and again.
In 1932, the Japanese invaders invaded and occupied Chengde, and then looted the forest resources here...
The natural forests of Saihanba have been severely damaged, and the forest resources are becoming less and less. Cold winds from Siberia drive in, pushing the shifting sands southward.
By the beginning of the founding of New China, the "beautiful high ridge" had degenerated into a plateau and barren hills - "birds have no perch trees, and yellow sand shades the sky".
Geographically, Saihanba is located on the southern edge of the Hunshandak Sandy Land on the Inner Mongolian Plateau, and the straight-line distance between the Hunshandak Sandy Land and Beijing is only 180 kilometers. The altitude of Hunshandak Sandy Is about 1400 meters, and the altitude of Beijing is 43.71 meters.
In this way, the Hunshandak Sandy Land is like a large sand pile hanging high above the North China Plain, and the wind and sand are blowing, like a person standing on a high place and raising sand downwards.
Historical meteorological data show that in the 1950s, the average annual number of sand and dust days in Beijing was 56.2 days.
Mr. Lao She once described in "The Wind of Beijing": the cold wind, rolling yellow sand, the ghosts crying and howling, the sky is dim, the sun and the moon are lightless... On the table and on the kang, there was a smelly ash soil, and even the bean juice that was boiling was turning white waves in the middle, and the edge of the pot was a black circle.
In order to improve the ecological environment, in the 1950s, the early days of the founding of New China set off a climax in the construction of state-owned forest farms. At that time, Hebei Province began to set up state-owned forest farms in various places, and the Chengde District Administrative Office and the paddock set up the largest number of forest farms. At that time, the Yinhe Forest Farm and the Great Arousal Forest Farm, which now belong to the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm, began to start successively.
For the important Shayuanbashang area, the State Forestry Department at that time had been planning to build a million-mu protective and material base in Zhangjiakou or Chengde, Hebei.
Where this large forest farm landed, after some argument.
In 1961, in The Saihan Dam in October, the cold wind roared and the snow danced.
Liu Kun, then deputy director of the State Forest Farm Management Bureau of the Ministry of Forestry, led a team of horses to walk on the icy dam. Liu Kun and his party are precisely to choose a site for the forest farm. At that time, on the large sand dunes on the southern edge of the Hunshandak Sandy Land, except for shady slopes, blisters and scattered natural secondary forests on the edge of the wetland, many places had become deserts with bare white sand.
After trekking on the wasteland for three days, Liu Kun and them finally found the roots of natural larch under the stone cliffs of the Kangxi Dianjiangtai.
Have a stub? This clue made Liu Kun suddenly overjoyed and decided to continue searching. Finally, in the area of the red pine depression in the desert, a stout and tall larch was found - this is the Saihanba Meritorious Tree, which was later known as "One Pine".
Liu Kun believes that this pine tree was less than 150 years old at that time, and it was a witness to history, a living specimen, which proved that towering trees could grow on the Saihan Dam.
"At that time, the State Forestry Department finally decided to build a large mechanical forest farm in Saihan Dam, mainly for several reasons." Wang Yuzhong, secretary of the party committee of the Hebei Academy of Forestry Sciences, said.
Saihan Dam's unique geographical location and climatic conditions are undoubtedly the preferred factors.
From the topographic map, saihan dam belongs to the dam head area, and the humid air flow from the southeast climbs here for a second time, forming a relatively rainy belt. From the perspective of climatic and hydrological conditions, the annual precipitation in the Saihanba area is 490 mm, which belongs to the cold temperate semi-arid-semi-humid monsoon climate zone. The terrain of the area is relatively flat, which is conducive to the accumulation of atmospheric precipitation, so the groundwater recharge is abundant.
From the perspective of soil conditions, the soil in the Saihanba area is roughly divided into six categories: brown soil, gray forest soil, meadow soil, aeolian sand soil, swamp soil and black soil. Among them, gray forest soil accounts for a relatively large proportion.
Grey forest soil is a soil formed under the vegetation of temperate forest grassland soil, which is lighter in texture, generally sandy loam to clay loam, and belongs to the transition type from forest soil to grassland soil.
This type of soil has a high content of organic matter, and can be mixed with deciduous broad-leaved forests and coniferous forests such as larch and spruce.
Ancient literature, the discovery of natural larch residues and "one pine" provide evidence that trees can be planted in Saihan Dam. Natural geographical conditions and practical advantages make Saihan Dam eventually become the site of large forest farms.
On February 14, 1962, the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm of the Then State Forestry Department was officially established.
The rebirth of Saihan Dam began.
When the saplings encounter high cold
In the 1980s, there was "a pine" on the Saihan Dam. (Expansion Pack)
In July 2018, the Korean PineWa National Nature Reserve in the eastern part of Saihanba.
Above the typical "five-flower meadow", a large tree more than 20 meters high rises from the green horizon, which is particularly eye-catching.
This is the "one pine" that was embraced by Liu Kun.
Today, the "one pine" tree is spontaneously surrounded by stones by countless passers-by. The red ribbons wrapped around the trunks of the trees convey the expectations of locals and tourists alike.
"A pine" not only gave the saihanba people the confidence to plant living trees on the wasteland, but also provided a scientific basis for what trees should be planted in the Saihanba at that time.
As a forest-grassland staggered zone, Saihan Dam itself can also be regarded as an ecological staggered zone. The primary vegetation communities here are mainly deciduous coniferous forests, evergreen coniferous forests, mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests, broad-leaved forests and shrub plants. Among them, the original deciduous coniferous forest of Saihanba is the larch forest of North China, which is also the established group of primary forests in this area.
In fact, in the north of Saihanba Qixing Lake, there is a natural secondary mixed forest of North China larch and spruce, which shows that artificial planting of local native tree species is easier to survive, which is also the top community of local vegetation in Saihanba, that is, the most stable community.
The original builders of the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm eventually selected three main tree species: North China Larch, Spruce and Sassafras Pine.
Li Yongdong, chief of the forestry section of the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm, said that when choosing these tree species, the first thing to be solved was the problem of "whether there is one or not", not to mention, the "timber base" was still a major function of the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm at that time. In order to screen out the "live, fast, good and high" tree species, at first the forest farm workers chose multiple tree species to plant and study in the experimental forest, and experienced many failures.
In August 2018, Saihanba Mille-feuille Forest Farm Nursery 5.
The 30 cm tall seedlings are tender yellow and round and pleasant. Technician Gao Ping inspected the growth of each sassafras pine while explaining the key points of seedling technology to the workers. Today, the survival rate of nursery nursery here is more than 95%.
In order to improve the quality of seedlings, the forest farm is equipped with special sprinkler irrigation, sunbathing ponds, seedling lifting machinery and seed processing, selection, inspection and other equipment. Nowadays, the forest farm nursery can produce more than 6 million spruce, sassafras pine and other fine seedlings every year, in addition to meeting the afforestation needs of the farm, it is also exported to Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shandong and other places.
The Saihanba people have a special affection for saplings. The first problem faced by the original builders of the Saihan Dam was how to get the saplings to take root in the alpine region.
In the 1960s, the first generation of builders of saihan dam who determined tree species faced what kind of standing conditions were faced?
In addition to the cold, there is also wind and sand in Saihanba, and there is a proverb that says, "One wind a year, from the beginning to the end of the year".
How cold could it have been? The snow was waist-deep and all roads were covered in heavy snow. In the words of the old staff of the forest farm, when the snow is blown by the wind, there is a layer of ice in the house, and even "holding the stove" will not have a feeling of heat. At night, you have to wear a leather hat to sleep, and when you get up in the morning, a layer of frost will fall on your eyebrows, hats and quilts, and the felts will all freeze on the kang, and you have to use a shovel to slowly shovel it up.
In the early days of the farm, the saplings of the forest farm were introduced from other places. In 1962, the forest farm planted 1,000 acres of saplings, and in the autumn, it was found that the survival rate was less than 5%. In the spring of 1963, another 1,240 acres of saplings were planted in Saihanba, and the survival rate was slightly higher than that of the previous year, but it was also less than 8%.
Pine trees can grow naturally on the mountain, but why is it so difficult to plant mechanically? After several studies, it has been found that there is no problem with the tree species and seedlings themselves, but the seedlings in the field are easy to lose water, hurt and heat, and cannot adapt to the windy and dry and abnormally cold climate of Saihanba.
After investigation, exploration and practice, Saihanba improved the traditional shading seedling method and explored a set of "all-light seedling method".
August 2018, Mille-feuille forest farm nursery.
The technician picks up a 30 cm tall pinus sassafras seedling from the seedbed and prunes the root whiskers of the seedling with scissors.
Gao Ping said that until now, the all-light seedling method is still being continuously improved in use.
The original all-light seedlings and the traditional shade seedlings have three differences, named "three no cover": one is no longer using plastic sheets to cover the seedlings, the second is no longer using grass curtains and other shades, and the third is no longer setting up wind barriers.
The general process is divided into several steps: the first process is snow hiding. The first winter, seeds, pesticides and snow are mixed together and buried outdoors. The following spring, plucked out of the snow. The second process is seeding. The seeds are soaked in warm water at 60 to 70 degrees for two or three hours, and then fished out, stirred in sand to dry and germinated. The third process is to sow seeds and go to bed. After sowing with an artificial seeder, cover the soil with a sieve. Technically strictly control the thickness of the soil, the point is not too thick. After that, it is necessary to observe the surface humidity in a timely manner, and sprinkle water to moisturize when the humidity is not enough.
"The all-light seedling method is actually a tempering of the adaptability of seedlings, so that the seedlings are more adaptable to the growth conditions of the local alpine in Saihanba and improve the survival rate." Gao Ping introduced.
After the success of the all-light seedling technology, mechanical afforestation also solved a series of problems. For example, when the larch is on the seedling machine, it is best to remove the side branches, and the seedlings left in the seedbed are too dense, and the seedling planting machine is easy to break.
In order to meet the requirements of mechanical afforestation on seedlings and improve the drought resistance of seedlings, technicians boldly tried to cut off the main root with a root-cutting plough for annual seedlings, and cultivated them for another year, so that the seedlings had developed whiskers, thus cultivating a large number of "bearded" and stout and low "short fat" seedlings with developed roots.
The technology of cultivating "bearded, short and fat" high-quality seedlings has greatly increased the number of seedlings and the number of seedlings produced, and completely solved the problem of seedling supply for large-scale afforestation.
The scientific source of a million forest seas
The shack where the early builders of saihan dams used to live. (File photo)
On September 25, 2018, the Shanghai Memorial Forest of Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm.
There is a tombstone in the forest, which is the tomb of Wang Shanghai, the first party secretary of the Saihanba Forest Farm. Next to the tombstone, a statue of him more than a meter high was erected, looking affectionately at the grass and trees in the forest.
The "Shanghai Memorial Forest" is the burial place of Wang Shanghai, located in the center of the Horseshoe Pit Camp Forest Area. In 1989, after Wang Shanghai's death, the forest farm followed his last wishes and scattered his ashes in the Horseshoe Pit Camp Forest Area, and named this forest "Shanghai Memorial Forest".
Not far from the tombstone, another stone stele stands out, and the three words "Source of Green" are deeply engraved on the stone stele.
This area, formerly known as the "Horseshoe Pit", is located 10 kilometers northeast of the main field, surrounded by mountains on three sides, and a small river in the south, shaped like a horseshoe stepping mark, with a total of 760 acres of land.
In the spring of 1964, after the breakthrough of the all-light seedling method, the first seedlings planted here by the Saihanba people achieved a 96.6% leaf release rate. The "horseshoe pit" with gentle terrain and suitable for mechanical operation has become a turning point for the artificial afforestation of the Saihanba mechanical forest farm.
If "a pine" is the "source" of the establishment of the Saihanba forest farm, then the Shanghai Memorial Forest is the "source" of the initial growth of the Saihanba. And the million forest sea of Saihan Dam, there are some invisible "sources".
In fact, despite the name of the mechanical forest farm, in fact, there are more than 1.2 million mu of plantations in Saihanba, and only a few hundred thousand mu are actually planted with machinery on a large scale. The rest of the plantations were planted by the forest farm workers with one shovel and one shovel.
But even if it is just a shovel and a shovel to dig the soil, it has its own scientific truth.
In the process of mechanical afforestation and artificial afforestation, the Saihanba people have transformed imported seedling shovels, modified the most advanced seedling planting machines at that time, and developed various suitable local "soil methods".
Li Yongdong said that in the past, artificial afforestation in the paddock area was the "central mountain planting method", and the process was complicated, time-consuming and slow. The forest farm staff explored a set of "three shovels and a half artificial gap seedling planting method".
The technique of the "three-and-a-half artificial gap seedling planting method" is not complicated: the first shovel is inclined inwards by 45 degrees obliquely to insert the subsoil to open the seam, and it is repeatedly shaken back and forth until the gap is 5 cm to 8 cm wide and 25 cm deep. The saplings are thrown into the hole along the side of the spade, shallowly lifted deeply to stretch the root system, and then the feet are fixed on the seedlings. About 5 cm from the seedling, insert the second shovel vertically, pull first and then push, squeeze the root to prevent hanging the seedling, squeeze the same as the first shovel. The third spade, with a further distance of 5 cm, operates the same as the second spade and is still squeezed. The last half of the shovel blocks the spade to prevent ventilation to facilitate the survival of the seedlings. Finally, the cave surface is leveled and covered with a layer of sand to protect the soil.
The "three-shovel and half-gap seedling planting method" is the original creation of saihanba mechanical forest farm, and the industry's common "center backing mountain seedling planting method", the afforestation effect is doubled, and the afforestation cost can be saved.
"Deep and shallow, do not leak red skin" is a beneficial experience to improve the survival rate of small saplings, and it is not good to plant deep and shallow. After repeated practice, they found that planting larch in Saihan Dam could only be buried in the red skin position of the root of the seedling. Pinus sassafras and spruce cannot be buried more than the first round of conifers, and neither too deep nor too shallow is easy to survive.
Li Yongdong said that after many years, more scientific methods have been explored for afforestation in Saihanba. However, under the conditions at that time, these attempts brought together the painstaking efforts of generations of builders of Saihan Dam and became a valuable wealth accumulated in the process of afforestation of Saihan Dam.
On June 30, 2018, the Bright Soldier Platform of the Yinhe Branch of the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm.
Eric Solheim, under-secretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of UNEP, who presented the Champions of the Earth Award to the Saihanba people, made good on his promise to come to Saihanba to see for himself.
The reckless Lin Hai in front of him brought him a deep shock. He said the Saihanba people's award was well deserved. "They brought the forest back."
A "and" word that spans a hundred years. The efforts of the generations behind it to change the world under the support of the "Saihanba Spirit" are unspeakable.
● Build an ecological chain
The fragile side of Lin Hai
Surrounded by the forest sea, Saihan Pagoda is one of the 9 fire towers in the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm, and can be used by tourists to climb the tower and enjoy the greenery. Reporter Zhao Haijiang Tian Ming photographed
The junction of the North China Plain and the Inner Mongolia Plateau rises sharply, and a large step divides the upper and lower landforms. This step is the dam.
This northeast-southwest "dam", high in the south and low in the north, the southern boundary is called the "dam edge" or "dam head". It is slowly inclined from the head of the dam to the north, and the relative height difference between the head of the dam and the bottom of the dam is 500-1000 meters.
The orogeny of the late Paleozoic period made such a peculiar landform. Today, it is still slowly uplifting as part of the Inner Mongolian Plateau.
Geographically, Saihan Dam is located in the northern part of Weichang Manchu Mongol Autonomous County, and the northernmost point of Hebei, belonging to the forest-grassland staggered transition zone, with an altitude of 1010-1940 meters.
The creation of heaven and earth has made the forest here a natural point to block the wind and sand from the north and the invasion of the south. The million mu of forest sea on the Saihan Dam is the best ecological barrier to protect Beijing and Tianjin.
Guarding this barrier, the ecological exploration of Saihan Dam is still ongoing.
On April 15, 2019, the Yinhe Forest Farm, the general field of Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm.
Liu Zhigang, a 24-year-old duty officer of the forest farm fire fighting team, will receive a call from his mother Qi Shuyan every 15 minutes: "Everything is normal." ”
The phone call comes from one of the highest "Wanghai Lou" in the forest farm, which is 1940 meters above sea level.
Liu Zhigang's parents, Liu Jun and Qi Shuyan, are the watchmen stationed in the "Wanghai Tower". At this time, they have to take a telescope every day and climb the 16-meter-high watchtower platform to observe.
"It is the responsibility of every forester to take good care of the forest." Liu Jun said, "The responsibility for fire prevention is as great as the sky. This forest is not only our 'lifeblood', but also the 'lifeblood' of generations of Saihanba people. ”
In recent years, the forest farm has increased investment in science and technology, installed a forest fire video monitoring system, an infrared fire detection radar, a lightning early warning monitoring system, and a UAV has also invested in fire patrol duty.
However, the establishment of an advanced monitoring network has not made the fire string in the hearts of the Saihanba people slack in the slightest - after all, no matter how advanced the monitoring network is, it cannot be 100% covered, let alone 100% accurately identify the fire point. Whether it is smoke or fog still needs to be judged.
Today, Saihan Dam has 116 professional firefighters, 220 semi-professional firefighters, 263 full-time rangers, 9 Wanghai towers, and 14 fixed fire inspection stations. In critical times, they need to be fully staffed and ready to go.
May 18, 2018, Yinhe Forest Farm.
Two helicopters roared over the linhai.
The white helicopter "one" shape flew low over the sky, and a 35-meter-long horizontal pipe on the belly of the plane constantly sprayed mist-like agents to accurately strike the larch ruler moth that nibbled on the trees.
In addition to fire prevention, another important task for the workers of saihanba mechanical forest farm is insect control.
"In the face of any insect pest that may endanger the forest, we must firmly say 'no'." Guo Zhifeng, director of the forest disease and pest control and epidemic prevention station at the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm, said that the use of helicopters to deal with larch ruler moths is only one of the countless battles to pursue and annihilate diseases and insect pests in a year.
"According to our 2017 autumn forestry pest survey forecast, 160,000 mu of larch will have a razor moth disease and insect infestation in 2018, such a large area, not encountered for more than ten years." Guo Zhifeng said that the transformation of the larch ruler moth from eggs to larvaes to pupae only takes half a month, "before the pupa can not be prevented, the pupa will enter the soil for wintering, the next year's harm to the forest will be even greater." ”
In order to seize the fleeting "fighter", in 2018, the forest farm adopted the tactics of flying defense and civil air defense to launch a three-dimensional attack on the larch ruler moth. One helicopter can carry 200 kilograms of agent at a time, which is equivalent to 30 people working at the same time. By the end of the flight defense operation on May 27, the helicopter had dispatched a total of 220 sorties, with a prevention and control area of more than 120,000 mu.
Such a "human-insect war" is staged in Saihanba from time to time.
Saihanba has a long winter and extremely low temperatures, with a minimum temperature of -43.3 °C, which is the extreme minimum temperature record of Hebei Province. Here, there is not even a significant summer, the number of windy days is large, the average annual number of windy days above level 6 is 67 days, and the maximum number of years is 114 days - these are already typical cold and temperate plateau climates, similar to the climate characteristics of the northern slopes of Daxing'anling.
Such natural conditions are an important reason why many exotic tree species are difficult to survive in Saihan Dam. The unique climate and landform make Saihan Dam also a special presence in the national afforestation industry.
Due to special natural conditions and historical reasons, the tree species of the plantation here are mainly larch, sassafras pine and spruce, and the proportion of pure artificial forests is very large.
The consensus in the industry is that pure forests formed by a single tree species have three main drawbacks: limited growth of trees, and difficulty in fire prevention and insect prevention.
Guo Zhifeng introduced that from the perspective of ecosystems, such forests are very fragile and prone to outbreaks of large-scale diseases and insect pests. The species that are harmful to the saihanba forestry include more than 20 species of pine caterpillars, small beetles, and white-haired bark elephants.
From the forest defense station of the forest farm general field, to the forest defense unit of the sub-field, and then to the monitoring staff at the grass-roots level, before the arrival of the insect control period every year, the relevant posts of Saihan Dam will be fully started, and a large number of investigations and analysis will be done on the location, area of occurrence, density of insect populations, and degree of harm that may occur.
The control methods adopted by Saihanba Forest Farm mainly include smoke spray control, spray control, aircraft control, physical control, natural enemy control, poison bait trap, etc., and insects are implemented. Before the large-scale control is carried out, the staff must catch different species and different growth stages of pests, and then spray them with different varieties and concentrations of drugs to record their death time, so as to find the best time for prevention and control and drugs.
However, the flight defense is like carpet bombing, not fine, and the remaining 40,000 acres of steep slopes and cliffs need to be manually processed.
This is a veritable "human-worm war".
Every year from April to the end of September, Guo Zhifeng and more than 100 of his colleagues arrive at the work site at 3 a.m. every day carrying about 30 kilograms of medicine and equipment. From dawn onwards, they are busy until night, sometimes late at night, and can only sleep three or four hours a day.
For many years, the rate of pest and disease in saihanba forest farms with a single tree species has always been controlled within 2/1000. This data is firmly maintained within the red line of "the disaster rate is not higher than 3.3 per thousand" delineated by the forestry department of Hebei Province.
In the perfect forecasting and prevention system established by Saihanba Forest Farm, a number of industry technical standards have been promoted in the national forestry system.
The concept and technology of pest control in Saihan Dam is constantly evolving.
"In recent years, while controlling diseases and insect pests, we have paid more attention to ecological environmental protection, and 'self-control mechanism' and 'ecological balance' have become the keywords of forest farms."
Guo Zhifeng said that the concept of the Saihanba people now is that as long as forest self-control can be realized, there will be no human intervention; as long as it can be controlled in a small area, it will never expand the area of prevention and control; as long as it can be controlled by biological predators, chemical agents will not be used. "The purpose is to minimize environmental pollution, maximize the protection of non-prevention and control objects, promote the formation of a self-control mechanism in forests, and maintain ecological balance."
After the trees are saturated
In the 1960s and 1970s, the mechanical afforestation scene of Saihan Dam. (File photo)
On September 20, 2018, the eastern slope of the Three Daogou of Saihan Dam.
"The soil here is called 'scalp soil.'" Peng Zhijie, deputy director of the Yinhe Forest Farm of the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm, randomly pulled out a thin layer of soil several centimeters thick, and squeezed the fist-sized gravel below one by one. On such a mountain, it is not easy for even shrubs to survive.
The eastern slope of the Three Daogou of SaihanBa is a stony mountain slope with a slope of nearly 30 degrees, which has been determined by experts to be difficult to live by planting trees.
Peng Zhijie calculated such an account for reporters: The area of saihanba mechanical forest farm reached 1.4 million mu. Of the 1.4 million mu of operating area, in addition to the 1.12 million mu of plantations that have been forested, some of the land is wetlands, which should be protected and cannot be planted; the second is forestry auxiliary land, such as more than 190 kilometers of forest roads; there is also a relatively large area of forest fire isolation belt; in addition, there are some management and protection housing land, living places.
Since its establishment in 1962, saihanba mechanical forest farm has been planted with trees for 57 years, and the place where trees can be planted is basically full. By 2017, only 10,000 mu of stony slopes like the eastern slope of Sandaogou remained in the whole forest farm that had not yet been forested.
These stony slopes have become the "last hard bones" of Saihan Dam.
In May 2018, in the face of the world-class problem of stony Yangpo afforestation, although it costs 500 yuan to rebuild an acre of forest, the Saihanba people still launched a general attack on the last 10,000 acres of stony barren mountains.
How difficult is it to plant trees in stony barren mountains?
Peng Zhijie spread out his calloused hands.
Digging a tree pit on such a mountain is actually a stone chisel, and when you chisel it down, your hands hurt. The hardest part is to carry the saplings. The mountain can not be watered, before going up the mountain container seedlings to be watered thoroughly, a 40 cm tall seedling weighs seven or eight pounds. The slope is steep and the mountain is high, and the machinery cannot go up, all relying on people to carry mules, "even mules are often tired and picky."
Without experience to learn from, saihanba people have continuously explored and summarized a series of strict technical specifications such as large holes, guest soil, strong seedlings, mulching, and soil covering, and realized "one afforestation, one survival, one forest".
By the end of 2018, the afforestation task of the stony barren mountains in the Saihanba forest farm had been basically completed, and the afforestation survival rate reached 99%. When young trees are forested, the world's largest plantation will have a forest coverage rate of 86%.
What does this mean?
Zhang Limin, director of the North Mandian Forest Farm of saihanba mechanical forest farm, said: "This means that we have no land to reforest.
After there is no forest to build, what should the employees of the Saihanba Forest Farm do, and in which direction will the Saihanba Forest Farm develop next?
"In the past, the afforestation of saihan dam solved the problem of 'whether there is or not', and in the future, we will have to solve the problem of 'good or bad'." Zhang Limin said, "At present, the main task of our Saihan Dam is how to make these forests 'high-quality development'. ”
On September 20, 2018, the Shanghai Memorial Forest of Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm.
Chang Weiqiang, deputy chief of the forestry section of the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm, is measuring the growth data of newly introduced Spruce trees in Xinjiang with a ruler.
Nowadays, in order to change the single afforestation tree species, enrich the structure of forest species, and promote the diversification and diversification of forest products, the forest farm has introduced more than 50,000 rare tree species such as Zhangwu pine, red pine, fir, ash willow, yellow pine, walnut catalpa and five-pointed maple from Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning in accordance with the biological characteristics of tree species, combined with local climate and geographical conditions, and planted more than 300 acres of rare trees such as Zhangwu pine, red pine, fir, ash willow, yellow pineapple, walnut catalpa and pentagram from Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, and planted more than 300 acres in different standing conditions.
"'Building ecological corridors and biodiversity conservation networks to improve ecosystem quality and stability' points us in the direction of improving forest quality." Chang Weiqiang said that the artificial pure forest tree species is single and difficult to form a stable ecological chain, and it is necessary to implement near-natural management and protection through artificial means such as thinning, tending, and updating tree species under the canopy to create a multi-layer heterogeneous mixed forest.
●Green imagination song
Changing forest structure
Saihan Dam autumn colors. Photo by reporter Jia Heng
In July 2018, Saihanba Mille-feuille Board Forest Farm Horseshoe Pit Camp Forest Area, Shanghailin 42 Forest Class.
Li Yongdong and the forest farm employees are doing forest survey design. Measuring, painting, recording, and determining boundaries will provide a scientific basis for the "tending and thinning" of this plot next year. Trees that need to be cut down should be painted red, and those that need to be retained should be painted with blue paint.
"The afforestation is complete, what are we doing now?" Nurture the cutting! Li Yongdong said that it is not that trees cannot be cut down, but that they should be cut scientifically. Green mountains are always there, sustainable use, more and more, the more cut the better, this is the truth of scientific forest cultivation. Li Yongdong explained, "Afforestation is technology, management and protection is art, and only making is equal to zero. Planting trees is more careful than planting crops, not only watering, weeding, fertilizing, but also supplemented by scientific management and protection measures such as pruning, tending, and inter-cutting, so that trees can grow fast and grow well. ”
There is no management of the forest, and even the grass does not grow. The forest land with a small amount of artificial intervention has a good ecology and continuously increases forest biodiversity, which can form a three-dimensional forest resource structure combining qiao, shrubs, grasses and lichen moss.
Since the establishment of the farm, Saihan Dam has grasped afforestation and forestry at the same time. In particular, since the comprehensive transfer to the forest management stage in 1983, the forest farm has explored a set of scientific care and management models, and achieved a virtuous circle of "cutting the better".
Timber production was once a pillar industry of Saihanba forest farms, once accounting for more than 90% of total revenue. In recent years, forest farms have significantly reduced the amount of timber harvested, and the proportion of timber industry revenue to total revenue has continued to decline, and in the past five years, it has fallen below 50%. Reduced dependence on timber revenues lays the foundation for the sustainable use of resources and sustainable development.
"According to the survey and prediction of the Hebei Forestry Survey, Planning and Design Institute, the annual growth of forest trees in Saihanba Forest Farm during the '13th Five-Year Plan' period is about 540,000 cubic meters. Therefore, as long as the average annual consumption accumulation is maintained at about 200,000 cubic meters, the sustained and healthy growth of the total amount of forest resources can be guaranteed. Li Yongdong introduced that the "13th Five-Year Plan" harvesting limit of the Saihanba forest farm in Hebei Province is 204,000 cubic meters per year, but the actual forest accumulation consumption of the forest farm is controlled at about 130,000 cubic meters.
The logging quota of saihanba forest farm is only 60%, and it is mainly used for "forest care": in strict accordance with the rules and regulations, the poor growth of trees in the forest is cut down, and the places where the forest density is too large are lowered, so that the remaining trees can grow better and improve the quality of the forest.
September 20, 2018.
Chang Weiqiang, who has just finished a short family visiting holiday, is driving back to the dam against the wind.
In early autumn, two streams of warm and cold air from the north and south collided violently in the dam area, and the wind from the north had begun to cool - a huge temperature difference, so that Chang Weiqiang had to stop halfway and add a thick piece of clothing.
The road to the Saihanba Mechanical Forestry Farm is winding and winding, and after passing through the paddock, the car begins to climb the winding hill road. In the skyline, clouds and yellow-green woods blur the boundaries, and the cars that circle up are like a small boat, floating in the waves of clouds and trees.
Chang Weiqiang, 38, has a dark and red face, his office is simply furnished, and his desk is scattered with various books and documents. This is not where he often stays.
"More often in the woods." Chang Weiqiang said that the office of the forest farm has always been not popular, because most of the time, people are stuck in the forest and nursery, "that's our office." ”
The Forestry Section is organizing a large joint inspection of production, afforestation density, survival rate, seedling quality, etc. all need to check statistics, Chang Weiqiang's workload is not small - to keep up with his pace in the forest, it is not an easy task - such a joint investigation will provide a numerical basis for the future "rearing and thinning".
The "tending thinning" freed up space to reduce the 222 densely planted pine trees per acre at the beginning of afforestation to 50 trees, and only 15 trees were retained in individual areas. Under the tree, through the means of "introducing the needle into the wide" and "planting trees under the forest", young spruce trees are implanted under the high-rise trees, and gradually form a multi-layer heterogeneous hybrid structure with the artificial pure forest as the top layer and shrubs, grasses, flowers and secondary forests.
The artificial pure forest of Saihan dam thus becomes vivid and interesting - as ventilation and breathability increase, the temperature increases, the humidity increases, the microorganisms begin to be active, the ten centimeters of needle-like leaves accumulated under the forest are accelerated and decomposed, providing more nutrients for plant growth, and the trees and shrubs and flowers grow taller and taller, creating a comfortable living space for the small animals here.
Today, the forest area is increasing and the quality of the forest is getting better and better.
Forest stock is an important indicator of forest quality. The total forest stock of Saihanba Forest Farm increased from 330,000 cubic meters before the construction of the farm to 10.12 million cubic meters, an increase of 30 times. The amount of forest stock per unit area is 2.8 times the national average for plantation forests.
In addition, in recent years, the construction of the ecological environment in various places has increased unprecedentedly, and the demand for green seedlings has increased greatly. Saihanba Forest Farm has built more than 80,000 mu of green seedling bases, and cultivated high-quality green seedlings such as spruce, sassafras pine, oil pine, larch and so on. More than 18 million seedlings of multiple varieties and specifications have become green "cornucopias".
"The greening seedlings of forest farms are sold to more than a dozen provinces (autonomous regions and cities) such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, liaoning, etc., with an annual income of more than 10 million yuan and more than 20 million yuan in many cases." Li Shuang, director of the Saihanba Forest Farm Industrialization Office, said. Driven by the forest farm, the greening seedling industry in the surrounding area has also developed rapidly.
Another kind of development of resources
Saihanba Seven Star Lake. Reporter Zhao Haijiang Tian Ming photographed
On July 20, 2018, winding along the road in saihanba National Forest Park, the dense pine forest on both sides brought patches of green into view, and through the occasional sparse forest, you can glimpse the rolling hills, mountains, grasslands, lakes in the distance... At this time, the Qixing lake wetland park is like a pearl dotted on the green carpet, suddenly breaking into the line of sight.
Before anyone arrives, the melodious music has already entered the ears. Between the lakes and mountains, a glass stage is particularly eye-catching. This is the scene of the "Green Melody" 2018 Saihanba Forest Concert Series.
For two consecutive days, accompanied by the aroma of flowers and plants after the drizzle, three special special music activities were staged here, each performance attracted more than 2,000 audiences and tourists.
"Men wore armor and saddled on horseback, and lang qi shouted, urging people and horses to come to the front." On July 20th, in the theme of original ecological folk songs and folk music, 11 Huayin veteran actors from Shaanxi Province shocked and staged "Will Make a Sound Shake the Mountains and Rivers".
"This is the oldest rock 'n' roll music in China – it's a great place to see national art enter modern life in the pristine big forest!" Zhang Hao, an audience member from Beijing, was full of praise.
The Forest Concert is a new attempt to further develop and upgrade saihanba tourism resources.
A series of activities such as the Saihanba Forest Concert resonates with the development of green mountains and ecological civilization, on the one hand, the natural sound of the wind blowing leaves, and the pleasant melody of the piano rhyme and flute on the other hand, at this moment, man and nature complement each other.
Saihanba Yinhe Forest Farm, a huge rock rises from the ground, standing majestically, here is called Liangbingtai, also known as Kangxi Point General Platform.
Legend has it that after the Kangxi Emperor's victory in the Battle of Ulan Butun, he once came to this stage to inspect the triumphant soldiers. Climb the Liangbing Platform at an altitude of 1874 meters above sea level and look out in all directions, the forest sea is vast, magnificent and majestic.
Zhao Liqun, director of the Yinhe Forest Farm, introduced: "Liangbingtai is surrounded by artificial larch forests planted more than 40 years ago, and has now grown from seedlings to 189 meters high. The more than 70,000 mu of forest sea in this area is only a small part of the million mu of forest sea in Saihanba. ”
"The sound of the point will go with the clouds, and Lin Hai will gush out millions of soldiers." In July, the former Liangbing Terrace has become one of the must-see attractions for tourists.
Today's Saihan Dam, the road to green development is getting wider and wider. The lush forest sea has become a "green bank" for the development of forest farm production, the improvement of the lives of employees, and the poverty alleviation of the surrounding masses.
In spring, the mountains are smeared with green, and the snow reflects the rhododendrons; in summer, the forest sea is dripping with green, full of flowers; in autumn, the red orange, yellow, and green, the forest is dyed; in winter, the snow is white, and the silver is wrapped... With beautiful scenery in all four seasons, Saihanba is a paradise for photography enthusiasts and a well-known forest eco-tourism destination in North China.
Under the premise of ensuring ecological safety, Saihanba Forest Farm has rationally developed and utilized tourism resources and strictly controlled the number of tourists, and has not approved the conversion of forest land into construction land for more than ten years. At present, the average annual number of tourists from all over the world is 500,000, and the annual ticket income is more than 40 million yuan.
Nowadays, the income of green industries such as forest tourism and green seedlings in Saihanba has long exceeded the income from forest operations.
New value for green
Galloping horses on the Saihan Dam. Photo by Sun Ge
On September 20, 2018, Daguang Dingzi Mountain.
This is a mountain on the northernmost border of Hebei. From this point to the north, more than ten kilometers, is the Inner Mongolia Keshketeng.
Under the blue sky and white clouds, huge white fans stand on the top of the mountain, and the blades rotate with the wind, bringing clean energy and becoming a pleasing scenery.
In the past five years, Saihanba Forest Farm has used open land that cannot be afforested, such as border areas, stony barren mountains and fire barrier belts, to join hands with wind power companies to build wind power projects. Considerable wind power compensation fees feed back ecological construction, injecting vitality into the development of forest farms.
There are also updates.
Foresters plant carbon sink forests, determine the total amount of carbon dioxide that can be absorbed, and list them on the trading market; carbon emitters buy carbon dioxide emissions to offset their industrial carbon emissions. Carbon sink trading is an effective way to compensate for the ecological value of forests and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through market mechanisms.
The Saihan Dam's afforestation and forestry carbon sink project, which has been filed with the National Development and Reform Commission, has reduced a total emission of 4.75 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. If all of them are listed and traded, it is conservatively estimated that the revenue can reach hundreds of millions of yuan.
The multiple management attempts around a forest are exactly the direction of saihan dam after rebirth.
"The key task for the future of Saihan Dam is how to achieve sustainable operation." Huang Xuanrui, a forestry expert who has been paying attention to the Saihan Dam for more than 20 years and dean of the College of Forestry of Hebei Agricultural University, has been constantly exploring the sustainable operation of the Saihan Dam in recent years.
At present, his main work has two aspects, one is to classify and evaluate the forestry resources of Saihan Dam and explore its ecological stability in the context of global climate change. The second is scientific planning to determine sustainable business objectives.
Huang Xuanrui said that in the future, the sustainable operation plan of Saihan Dam should start from a higher level such as the river basin scale and the forest stand scale, and explore the full-cycle operation model through the classification and evaluation results of the site.
In Huang Xuanrui's view, whether it is the rebirth or rebirth of Saihanba, it is necessary to return to four words in the end: respect for nature.
"The grass and trees are planted, and the wealth of the country is also." The assessment results of the Chinese Academy of Forestry show that the ecological value of the Saihanba forest is 39.5 times the value of wood; the forest ecosystem generates an ecological service value of more than 10 billion yuan per year. According to estimates, the total value of Saihanba forest resources has reached about 20 billion yuan.
The changes in the ecological environment of Saihanba for more than half a century confirm the law of the relationship between man and nature: "Man is born of nature, man and nature are a symbiotic relationship, and the harm to nature will eventually hurt human beings themselves." Only by respecting the laws of nature can we effectively prevent detours in the development and utilization of nature. ”
Compared with Yunnan-Guizhou, Sichuan-Shaanxi and other regions, Hebei is not rich in the total amount and variety of vegetation resources. However, the complex geomorphological and climatic conditions have made the vegetation in Hebei generally show the characteristics of diversity with transitional nature. More importantly, as one of the earliest areas of human activity, the progress and interaction between humans and vegetation are more typical here. What are the native vegetation in the land of Hebei, what kind of historical changes have the forests and grasslands in Hebei undergone, and what kind of relationship should be established between people and forests? Stay tuned to the second unit of "North of the Great River: Forest and Grassland". (Interview/Reporter Yuan Weihua Li Jiancheng Chen Baoyun Author/Reporter Yuan Weihua)
This report has received strong support from saihanba mechanical forest farm general field, Hebei Forestry and Grassland Bureau, Hebei Academy of Forestry Sciences and other units, and hereby acknowledges it.