In midsummer, we crossed the Inner Mongolia and the immense forest of the northern part of Heilongjiang, and come to Daxing'anling Forestry Corporation--the largest timber-manufacturing base in the country. We are very glad to see that this forest area which has been developed and constructed for some 40 years, especially six years since the implementation of "natural forest project", the ecological construction has begun to take effects gradually. It has become a natural screen for the protection of Heilongjiang, Nenjiang, Songnen Plain and Inner Mongolia Grasslands as well as northeast and north China. As estimated by the nation's forestry and ecological experts, the value coming from storing coal, bearing coal and conserving water has come to an amount of over 16 billion yuan in the 84,600 square-kilometer forest area of Daxing'anling.

According to on-the-spot estimation and calculation by experts Ma Jianzhang, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Zhou Xiaofeng, ecologist with Northeast Forestry University, the value Daxing'anling forest area turns out every year by storing coal and bearing coal reaches to 6.8 billion yuan. Forestry engendering oxygen creates a value of 3.5 billion, and the forestry conserving water makes a profit of 5.4 billion yuan, and it also possesses the benefits of flood prevention and disaster alleviation.

In the past 40 years, Daxing'anling forest area has turned out an accumulative 112 million cubic meters of timbers for the country, got in 4.9 billion yuan of profit and tax, and created an accumulative output value of 57.59 billion yuan. Especially during the six years after the implementation of "natural forestry project", the Forestry Corporation has formed relatively complete forestry industry system, possessing 190 forestry industry processing enterprises with 22,000 employees and a fixed assets of 540 million. There are already six broad headings and 200-plus varieties of converted timber, artificial board, wooden product, wooden furniture, integrated timber and forestry-chemical products etc. Daxing' anling Forestry Corporation has found a scientific way out for giving priority to an sustainable utilization of resources, and it has actively cultivated reserve resources in the past 40 years. By the end of 2003, it has completed accumulatively 215,092 hectares of forestation, and has cultivated 4,125 hectares of seedlings, and has tendered a producing area of 1,808,791 hectares of young shoots, and 1,686,018 hectares of established forest. The forest reserves are under effective recovery.

By People's Daily Online