The largest state-owned forest region in China ends commercial logging for 63 years.

Since April 1, all natural forests in the large and small Xing'an Mountains and Changbai Mountains have been stopped, which marks a new stage for the development and utilization of key state-owned forest areas to comprehensive protection and development.

On March 31, with the last chainsaw reverberating in the mountain forest slowly stopped, the key state-owned forest region of Daxing'an Mountains in Inner Mongolia, the largest state-owned forest region in China, also stopped the 63-year history of commercial cutting of natural forests.

On a day at the end of March, workers from the 301 team of Xiniqi Forest Farm of Tulihe Forestry Bureau in Daxing'an Mountains, Inner Mongolia, were working on their last day of intense and orderly work.

The winding mountain road, vigorous trees and undulating mountains constitute a magnificent picture. In 1952, the first trumpet of forestry harvesting in New China sounded from the Tuli River Forestry Bureau. 63 years later, it ushered in the last moment of complete logging, and workers are conscientiously completing the last logging task.

Starting from April 1, the song of "falling down the mountain" and the rumbling mechanical roar that used to ring through the mountains will cease to exist.

When the workers change their posts, they will undertake the tasks of forest tending, renewal and afforestation.

"creak." A big tree fell to the ground, and its branches and leaves trembled and made a "clatter" sound. Oil saw Liu Lianjun stretched out a big rough hand and stroked the tree trunk and asked the worker to take a picture of him with his mobile phone. "this may be the last tree I have felled in my life." Liu Lianjun looked at the big tree that fell to the ground, wiped the chainsaw carefully and said thoughtfully, "take a picture with the chainsaw, the big tree and the tractor and leave some memories."

The Daxinganling key state-owned forest region in Inner Mongolia is located at the northernmost tip of the motherland, spanning nine banners and cities of Hulunbuir and Xingan. The forestry ecological function area covers a total area of 106700 square kilometers, a forest area of 82700 square kilometers, and a forest coverage rate of 77.44 percent. The total storage of living trees is 950 million cubic meters, and the total area and total storage of living trees ranks first among the four key state-owned forest areas in Northeast and Inner Mongolia.

In the early 1980s, Liu Lianjun took the chainsaw from his father and cut down countless trees. Now, his ideas have changed. "when I was young, I had a sense of achievement when I cut down a big tree, but now I feel a pity. It takes decades for a big tree to grow, but it takes less than a minute to cut it down. " He said.

"after working on the mountain for half his life, what do you do after you stop cutting?" The reporter asked.

"dig a hole and plant trees!" This simple, honest and dark man from Northeast China is not worried about his future livelihood. "after the logging is stopped, we will have an industry, and we will have a better life in the future."

It is reported that after the suspension of logging, 25000 workers currently directly engaged in wood production will be transferred to forest management and protection, and the remaining more than 10,000 will face diversion to undertake the tasks of forest tending, reforestation, and forest cultivation. Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group will apply to the State Forestry Administration to increase the area of forest management, care and cultivation, so as to turn the forest farm into a management and protection station. Workers in good physical condition can also join the ranks of forest fire prevention.

Stopping logging will bring greater benefits.

Deep into the forest, the woodcutter team can be seen everywhere with rusty machinery and old axe saws that have been used for many years, and the old production tools seem to be silently waiting for the end of the logging era. In the shed, the eye-catching slogan on the enamel jar of the workers-"wide world, great achievements", is still silently telling about the glorious past here.

Over the past 63 years, the Daxing'anling forest region in Inner Mongolia has provided more than 200 million cubic meters of commercial timber and forest by-products to the state, paying taxes and fees of more than 20 billion yuan. In the late 1990s, the annual output of timber reached 3.8 million cubic meters, which was 3.8 times that of the national investment in the same period. In the fifties and sixties of the last century, in the highest year, the financial surrender of forest areas accounted for more than half of the finance of the autonomous region. "this is equivalent to shaving off a forest that is 1km wide and 380km long with a razor." An old forestry man described it.

After the implementation of the natural forest resources protection project in 1998, in response to the call of the state, forestry workers began to put down axe saws, and the annual output of wood was reduced to the current 1.1 million cubic meters. Through the implementation of the natural protection project, up to now, the forest coverage of the Daxinganling forest region in Inner Mongolia has increased by nearly 23% compared with the initial stage of development, the net forest area has increased by 878800 hectares, the total volume of standing trees has increased by 183 million cubic meters, and the number of forests has increased significantly. the forest quality has been significantly improved and the forest ecological function has been continuously enhanced.

Why stop felling when there are too many forests?

"because through tending, although the number of young and middle-aged forests has increased, there are fewer mature and overmature forests that can be cut." BA Shuhuan, general manager of Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group and director of the Forestry Administration, said that at the initial stage of development, more than 50% of mature and over-mature forests could be cut in the Daxing'anling forest region of Inner Mongolia, but only about 20% at present. The stock of forests is increasing, but the number of forests that can be cut down is declining. Although according to the current forest growth estimates, it can fully support 1.1 million cubic meters of wood production per year, but the ecological effect brought by the suspension of logging will be more significant.

The ecosystem will be more healthy and stable.

For Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group, stopping logging will directly affect the employment and livelihood of the industrial chain using wood as raw materials and 25000 workers who are directly engaged in wood production. In addition to ecological protection, the most important thing is the diversion, resettlement and activation mechanism of personnel.

"the complete cessation of commercial felling of natural forests is a major change in state-owned forest areas. However, we cannot carry out reform in the form of high winds and torrential rain, but must persist in putting people first and make steady progress. " Zhang Xueqin, party committee secretary of Inner Mongolia Daxinganling Forestry Administration and chairman of Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group, said.

In order to solve the problem of personnel resettlement and enriching the people, at present, green projects such as green seedlings, forest products, carbon sequestration bases, forest tourism, characteristic farming and planting in the Daxing'anling forest region of Inner Mongolia are being promoted. In 2014, the average salary of on-duty workers in forest areas was 36500 yuan, double that of 2010. In 2015, Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group set a new target that the per capita wage of employees would reach 40,000 yuan.

It is estimated that by 2023, when the 10th national continuous inventory of forest resources is held, the forest coverage of the Daxing'an Mountains in Inner Mongolia will reach more than 80%, the forest area will reach 8.35 million hectares, the volume of standing trees will reach 1.1 billion cubic meters, and the total resources will continue to grow. The ecosystem is more healthy and stable. The ability of ecological protection and construction has been significantly improved the ecological infrastructure has been improved and the means of disaster prevention and control have been enhanced. Key protection clusters such as all kinds of nature reserves forest parks and wetland parks have been formed and the ecological demonstration role is obvious.

At the same time, Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group will establish a natural resources management system suited to ecological protection and construction, further clarify the ownership of natural resources assets in forest areas, and build a capable and efficient organization and management system of state-owned natural resources. to form a complete, unified and sound administrative law enforcement system for resource management. In accordance with the principle of step-by-step implementation, we will promote the adjustment of the economic structure and relations of production through reform, implement market-oriented operation in forest tending, afforestation, and seedling production, and strive to spend three years to explore the mode of separating government from enterprises, affairs and enterprises, and management and management in forest areas, and achieve the separation of government and enterprises, affairs and enterprises, and management and management by 2020.

"We firmly believe that forestry will certainly rise in the transformation, and we forestry workers will certainly usher in a better tomorrow!" Li Congming, general manager of Tulihe Forest Industry Company and director of the Forestry Bureau, said.

Guard the green (take notes on the side of the news)

Most of the forestry workers have lived in this mountain forest for generations. they are familiar with every ditch system, mountains and rivers of the forest, and blend with every inch of land in the Xing'an Mountains with sweat and footsteps. The vibration brought by the stop of logging to the forest area is no less than the full start of the logging work in that year.

Stopping logging is not a matter for a working team, but a matter that must be faced by 200000 forestry workers and people in the Daxing'anling forest region of Inner Mongolia. Because of the serious shortage of investment in the transformed industry, the industrial pattern of "single wood support" has not been fundamentally changed. As a state-owned enterprise with more than 60 years of development and more than 300000 employees, the forest region has undergone many forestry policy adjustments and major reforms, and accumulated many historical problems, such as huge financial debts, difficulties in the life of one-time resettlement personnel, and so on.

On the one hand, there are social responsibilities such as the transformation of shantytowns and ecological migration in remote mountainous areas, while on the other hand, there is a lack of modern fire prevention equipment and less investment in scientific prevention and control of diseases and insect pests. In order to protect the ecological achievements, it is necessary for the central and local governments to give project, policy and financial support to the transformation and development of forest areas, and solidify these supports by long-term mechanisms and institutional means.

Stopping felling is a major change in promoting the forestry development model from timber production to ecological restoration and construction, from forest economic benefits to forest protection and providing ecological services, which means a new beginning. A forestry worker said: "this forest really needs rest and recuperation, and we will guard the green of Xing'an Mountains with our hands." They are looking forward to a better future.