What changes have occurred in Daxinganling after the fire 30 years ago?

"In another 50 years, our forest area will be fully restored!" Yao Zhanjun, the head of Mohe County in the Daxinganling Region of Heilongjiang Province, said with emotion that "it takes ten years to grow trees and a hundred years to cultivate people", but it can be Daxinganling is a "hundred-year-old tree". On May 6, 1987, a huge forest fire broke out in the Daxinganling forest area that shocked the whole country. A wall of fire nearly 100 meters high swept across everything, killing 211 people, leaving 50,000 people homeless, and destroying 1.01 million hectares of forest land. The cost was extremely high. bitter!

It is easy to destroy the ecology, but it is too difficult to restore it! Thirty years have passed, what has the Greater Khingan Mountains looked like today? Recently, reporters visited the forest area where the fire occurred.

Everything is green, but the quality of the forest still needs to be improved

The reporter accompanied comrades from the local fire prevention office to inspect the Greater Khingan Mountains. From a bird's eye view from a helicopter, the white ice and snow at the bottom of the valley is beginning to melt, and the trees all over the mountains are turning green. Spring has finally arrived in this bitterly cold land after more than seven months of severe winter.

From the scene, it can be seen that the natural combination of trees, shrubs and grasses in the original woodland has taken shape. Walking through the forest that had been burned by the fire, except for some scattered blackened tree stumps, the traces of the fire are no longer obvious; the trees that can be seen are mainly white birch trees that are as thick as the mouth of a cup and more than ten meters high, while larch and camphor trees Pine seedlings have just begun to appear; under the forest, low shrubs such as red beans, leucopus, and wild blueberries can be seen everywhere.

Plant species have gradually become richer, creating conditions for the recovery of local biodiversity. Local comrades said that in recent years, there have been more wild animals such as snowshoe rabbits, roe deer, and wild boars. Some time ago, there were rumors of "black bears" (black bears) coming down the mountain. The grand scene of "beating roe deer with sticks and scooping up fish with gourds" is gradually returning. “This is what the woods should be like,” the comrade said with emotion.

The reporter found that 30 years after the fire, there were very few big trees in the forest. Zhao Xiaogang, deputy director of the Daxinganling District Fire Prevention Office, said that due to the cold weather, it takes about 70 years for the birch trees here to become useful, and it takes about 100 years for the larch and Scotch pine to become useful. The so-called mature trees are often no more than the thickness of a bowl, not the big tree as imagined.

After every fire, the sun-loving birch trees sprout first and fully occupy the burned area; then the shade-loving larch and sylvestris pine begin to sprout and grow, and it is not until a hundred years later that they gradually replace them. The birch tree has become a powerful tree species. This is how coniferous forests and broadleaf forests complement each other and alternate naturally.

Lv Jianzhao, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Daxinganling Prefectural Committee, told reporters that by the end of 2016, the region had completed artificial afforestation of 100,000 acres, replanting and reforestation of 1.49 million acres, and forest tending of 1,856 acres, with forest coverage of 100,000 acres. The forest rate has reached about 82%, and it can be said that everything is green as far as the eye can see, but the quality of the forest still needs to be improved.

“Today’s forests are still in their infancy, and the wood volume per hectare is only about 30% of that of mature forests. It still takes decades, two or three generations of careful care for the trees to become useful. ”

To prevent fire and wind, to protect the forest, we must grasp the ecological laws

The most feared thing in the forest is fire. In the spring and summer of this year, small fires broke out in parts of the Greater Khingan Mountains, which affected the hearts of people across the country.

The Daxinganling Forest Area in Heilongjiang Province is located in the northern border of my country, covering an area of ??more than 80,000 square kilometers. It is one of the main distribution areas of natural forests in my country and has been developed as a timber forest base since 1964. After the fire in 1987, the value of timber harvesting in this forest area was greatly reduced. Take the Amul Forest Farm, one of the three major forest farms in the area, as an example. It was originally planned to harvest for 100 years, but it was hit by a fire after just over 10 years of harvesting. As a result, there was no wood to harvest and the losses were heavy.

After learning from the experience, the local fire prevention office was quickly established, a multi-level target management responsibility system was established, 15 professional forest firefighting teams with a total of 6,345 people were established, and investment in manpower and material resources was increased. According to statistics, the region has currently built 326 watchtowers, 145 checkpoints, and 3 aviation ranger airports. It is equipped with 1,545 special fire prevention vehicles, 34,000 various fire extinguishing machines, and 3,988 fire prevention communication equipment (sets). , forming a three-level fire prevention communication network covering the entire region, as well as a "four-in-one" monitoring method of ground patrol, mountain lookout, aircraft observation, and satellite remote sensing, which can quickly detect and extinguish fires in a very short period of time .

“Fire prevention is not easy, and hard work requires peace of mind.” According to Han Mingtao, captain of the Fukeshan duty point of the Mohe Brigade of the Daxinganling Area Detachment of the Heilongjiang Forest Corps of the Armed Police, in the past 30 years, more than 100 small fires have been put out in the Daxinganling area. There was no major fire. The reason is that in addition to proper emergency measures, it is also related to the usual "spot burning method" to remove accumulations under the forest and the attention to establishing fire prevention isolation zones.

The understanding of how to deal with burned forest land is gradually deepening in practice. Hua Zhengguo, a lookout at the Mohe County Fire Prevention Office, said that fire is a natural disaster, but it also has certain ecological value. For example, every time after being burned by fire, 80% of the "burned wood" did not die. In the next spring, it can still sprout and survive, and there are few diseases and insect pests. Therefore, these "suspended dead trees" should not be cut down casually.

After the fire in the Daxinganling forest area, the ecosystem is extremely fragile. According to reports, in the local low-lying meadow areas, there is a permafrost layer that has lasted for thousands of years, which is about 2 meters thick. Vegetation grows in the shallow soil layer on the permafrost layer, and the main roots are generally no more than 1 meter deep.

A strong wind can often blow down tens of thousands of hectares of trees.

“If we want to keep the forest healthy, we must not only prevent fire, but also prevent wind and lodging during forest management.” Zhao Xiaogang said that only by grasping the ecological laws can the forest be well protected. For example, methods such as "enclosure" as the main method, supplemented by artificial afforestation, and mixed conifers and broadleaf trees, can ensure the healthy growth of the forest and speed up its recovery.

Putting down the axe, the road to green transformation is getting wider and wider

The road to development in Daxinganling, which has been reborn from the ashes, is not smooth. In 2014, the country completely stopped commercial logging in the Daxinganling forest area. The people of Daxinganling faced a new round of severe test: How to get out of the "one-tree economy" in the past? What makes people even more worried is that due to the economic downturn and employment difficulties, there has also been a population loss. Taking Mohe County as an example, it has lost about 20% of its population and the return rate of college graduates is only 10%.

Faced with new situations and new problems, where should the Greater Khingan Mountains go?

"The stick beats the roe deer and the gourd scoops out the fish, and the pheasant flies into the rice pot" - How can the Daxingan Mountains on the tip of the tongue make people hungry? "The azaleas are blooming all over the mountain, and the fragrance of blueberries is intoxicating with autumn insects." How can one not be tempted by the Daxingan Mountains on one's fingertips? "Boundless forests and vast seas, thousands of pines and birches rising from the ground" - How can no one appreciate the breathtaking beauty of the Greater Khingan Mountains?

Based on its own resources, the local government has vigorously promoted six major industries, including specialty breeding, eco-tourism, and biopharmaceuticals. The forestry-related "business" in Daxinganling is booming.

The wild fruits under the forest have become "golden berries". 80% of the world's wild blueberries are in China, and 80% of China's wild blueberries are in the Greater Khingan Mountains. This rich gift from nature, which occurs every year, has become the green wealth of tens of thousands of people in the Greater Khingan Mountains. Ren Jingui, an employee of Gulian Forest Farm in Mohe County, made a calculation: He earns more than 30,000 yuan every year picking blueberries, which is about the same as his annual salary income.

The ice and snow are resources. The Tuqiang Forestry Bureau of the Daxinganling Region cooperated with a Zhejiang company to take advantage of the local extremely low temperature conditions to breed 120,000 Arctic foxes. The annual output value reached about 100 million yuan, solving the re-employment problem of more than 500 employees. "One fox is worth one tree, which is a good deal." Liu Guozhong, director of the Industrial Development Department of Tuqiang Forestry Bureau, said that one fox skin can be sold for about 240 yuan, and the profit from selling one tree is about the same. Arctic fox fur is used as a collar, which is warm and soft, and is very popular in the high-end clothing market.

Geographic location is also a resource. Mohe County, located in the northernmost part of my country, has rich tourism resources such as extreme day and night, large rivers, and large forests. After vigorous publicity and promotion, it has attracted a large number of domestic and foreign tourists to "search for the north". According to Zhang Lei, director of the Mohe County Tourism Bureau, the total output value of the local tourism industry is developing rapidly at a rate of 20%-30% every year. There are more than 3,000 local people directly engaged in the tourism industry and 30,000 people involved in related industries. The tourism industry has driven The effect is obvious. ?

Putting down the axes and chainsaws, from loggers to forest rangers, from the forest to the market, the people of Daxinganling are embarking on a wider and wider road to green transformation.

Say goodbye to the "single-plank bridge" and embark on the "broad road"!