Green Assets

GOLOG Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China’s Qinghai Province is home to China’s forest farm with the highest elevation, Ma’ke River Forest Farm.

- LI YUAN

Before the 1990s, the forest farm was one of the major timber suppliers in Qinghai Province. Since 1998, China has initiated projects for protecting natural forests across the country.

The mission of Ma’ke River Forest Farm thus changed. Staff workers of the farm and people living nearby put away their electric saws and picked up shovels to plant saplings. The sustainability-oriented approach of striking a balance between harnessing the green assets and protecting the ecology has enabled them to improve their lives.

From Lumberjack to Forest Ranger

Zhu Fuhai, 49, is the deputy chief of a forest zone in Ma’ke River Forest Farm. Zhu used to be a lumberjack before 1998.

“I started logging on the farm in 1993. Back then, trucks drove to the mountains every day to transport timber,” Zhu recalled. Evidence of the past logging activity can still be found from the sparse amount of trees with a height shy of one meter on both banks of the Ma’ke River due to heavy timber felling at that time.

According to Zhu, the saplings were planted 10 years ago. Due to the high altitude and cold climate, plants on the farm grow extremely slow and the vegetation cover will take a long time to recover from damage.

The consequences of deforestation go far beyond such damage. According to Zhu, the place was frequently plagued by natural disasters including torrential flooding and mudslides some 20 years ago.