The forest coverage rate of Haishu Dajiao Village in 34 years is as high as 99%

Viewed from the air, in the area of Dajiao Village, Zhangshui Town, Haishu District, Ningbo City, which is located in the hinterland of Siming Mountain, the forest is dense and shady, with a forest area of more than 12000 mu and a coverage rate of 99%. Experts from Ningbo Forestry Bureau said that this is the best protected place of forest resources in the city.

"this is the result of careful care by generations of villagers." Xu Penghui, a branch secretary of the village, said that as early as 1976, the village issued a "ban on felling." trees were planted and felling was strictly prohibited every year, and this forest was finally nurtured.

Who would have thought that 42 years ago, Dajiao Village was the most heavily deforested village in the area, surrounded by barren mountains. In 1970, Ningbo began to build the Jiaokou Reservoir, an important water source. 234 households of Dajiao Village moved from the reservoir area to the upper reaches, and many villagers felled trees wantonly to build houses or even sell money. "at that time, more than 10 hectares of forest were cut down every year, and all the trees with thick fists were cut down." Xu Qiankun, a 65-year-old villager, saw Castle Peak become a bald ridge with his own eyes.

A sudden disaster awakened the villagers chasing their immediate interests. Xu Wenji, a branch secretary of the old village, said that due to the lack of vegetation protection, a mountain torrent in the summer of 1976 destroyed more than 20 houses and large fields in the village. This made the villagers re-examine their relationship with the surrounding mountains and forests, and many villagers said sadly, "Don't cut down indiscriminately any more, or you won't even be able to keep your home!"

At the end of that year, a general meeting of the members of the village was held and unanimously adopted the Convention on Forest Protection, which began to close mountains and cultivate forests, and villagers were strictly forbidden to cut down trees. Every year when the farm is idle, the village buys a large number of seedlings and organizes the villagers to go up the mountain to plant trees. By the spring of 1984, the forest in the village had been restored to more than 4000 mu, and the thick shade had returned.

"Today, the villagers of Dajiao Village have not cut down a tree for 34 years." Xu Penghui said that the last act of secretly cutting down trees in the village took place in November 1984, and he still keeps the villagers' review papers. In order to put an end to illegal felling, the village then improved the "mountain forest ban", stipulating a fine of 10 yuan for privately cutting down a tree and 9 yuan for privately picking bamboo. For the villagers who earned less than 30 cents a day at that time, the punishment was quite severe.

Since the implementation of the logging ban, the villagers have also encountered various temptations. Especially around 2008, many surrounding villages cut down forests to rebuild seedling bases, developed seedling planting industry, and produced tens of thousands of yuan per mu. At that time, the villagers of Dahu, whose per capita annual income was only 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, kept asking for seedlings. To this end, village cadres went from house to house to do work, reiterating that "the ban on felling cannot be changed and trees must not be cut down." the proposal to develop seedlings was also rejected at the villagers' Congress.

After years of tree planting and forest protection, the consciousness of "ecological priority" has taken root in the hearts of the villagers. At the end of last year, in order to further strengthen the protection of water sources, Dahu villagers took the initiative to shut down all farm music and turned to make use of environmental advantages to vigorously produce characteristic agricultural products such as tea and bamboo shoots. the per capita income of villagers increased from more than 6000 yuan in 2015 to more than 11000 yuan in 2017. At present, the village is developing ecological agriculture, rural e-commerce and so on. Xu Penghui said: "the trees on the mountain are our greatest wealth, and we will never let them get hurt again."