From desert to forest: over five decades of afforestation efforts in Saihanba

In 1962, the Saihanba Forest Farm was established on a deserted land, to block the southward movement of Hunshandake desert. Today this green ecological barrier, in a significant way, has helped conserve water sources for Beijing and Tianjin cities, and improved the local environment. Without efforts put in for the last 55 years, this would not have been possible. 

The lush forest in Saihanba emerges after decades of persistent afforestation efforts. [Photo: Saihanba Forest Farm]

After a six-hour drive from Beijing, I finally arrived at the Saihanba Forest Farm. It was mid-summer, when the heat wave swept across many parts of the country, yet here, it was a refreshingly cool sight, seeing a forest of trees, and listening to birds chirping and the sound of insects, I could hardly believe that this beautiful place had once been as dry as a desert.

'Saihanba' is a term with a mixture of Mongolian and Chinese origins, meaning a beautiful and high mountain. Located in the northernmost part of Hebei province and in the southern margin of the Inner Mongolia plateau HunShanDake sand. with an average elevation of 1500m, Saihanba was once full of water, dense forest and various animals. During the early days of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), it used to be part of the royal hunting ground, However, as the Qing dynasty declined, the are became open to the public. The large forested area transformed into a barren wasteland as a result of massive reclamation.

Liu Kun, former deputy minister of forestry, still vividly remembers the picture he saw at Saihanba in 1961.

"Dust and sand was blowing, stones and rocks rolling. No wood, no grass,no cattle." 

Chen Zhiqing, vice director of Saihanba forest farm, elaborates.

"The straight-line distance between Beijing and the HunShanDake desert, which is in the north of Saihanba, is only about 180km. If Saihanba had remained barren, whenever there would be sandstorms from the desert, it would have been a great threat to Beijing, just like pouring sand and dust from the roof top of a house."

When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the government intended to reforest the area to improve the local ecological environment as well as to support the building of the country. But was it possible for this place to be revived with trees?

Former deputy minister of forestry, Liu Kun was sent to Saihanba in the autumn of 1961 to investigate and research.

"Whether or not a forest farm could be established in Saihanba? Frankly speaking, I had doubts. The natural conditions then were very harsh."

Professor Meng Xianyu with Beijing Forestry University describes the harsh natural conditions.

"Up until May, the ground there still had frozen ice. It was very windy. In winter, the temperature dropped to as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius. The growing season of trees was very short."

With Saihanba's past image of a dense forest in his mind, Liu Kun and his team of experts couldn't easily give up. They rode horses in the wilderness for days searching and hoping for signs of life, until they came across an ancient pine tree standing tall and alone in the snow on the vast wasteland.

"It was a larch, of about 100-150 years old; 25 or 26 meters high and more than 20cm in diameter. Anyway, seeing a tree in this place, we were ecstatic. Then we named it The Tree of Hero."

When thousands of other trees had been dead or destroyed, this larch strongly survived midst the storms, declaring its faith that billions of trees would majestically rise just as tall again on this land.

In the spring of 1962, the Saihanba Mechanized Forest Farm was eventually teamed up by 369 young people at an average age of 24, including 240 local workers and over 127 graduates majoring in forestry, agriculture or mechanism engineering from universities and high schools.

Everything was hard in the beginning. In those days, on this barren land, there was neither enough food to eat, nor enough space to live in for many new comers. So they grew potatoes and corns to supply themselves, and set up shacks and tents for shelter. 

The first generation of Saihanba foresters still vividly recalls the old days.

"Twenty people shared a drafty shack."

"It was minus 46 degrees celsius. With no coal, we burnt logs to get warm. Even the stove would burn red hot, yet it would not be as warm as we had expected. It was freezing cold outside."

"Every morning when getting up and out of the shack, the quilts would be covered in white frost, our eyebrows white, so would the beard. Life was really hard."

Despite all these difficulties, in the early spring of 1962, around 67 hectares of land was cultivated and planted with pine saplings. Unfortunately, almost all of them died in the autumn. The next spring, 83 hectares, yet still, only 8% of the saplings survived.

Failures dampened down everyone's enthusiasm. The Saihanba Mechanized Forest Farm contemplated on whether to close or not…

Facing the dilemma, the foresters insisted on exploring the reason and solutions.

Li Xingyuan, was one of the technicians then.

"All the saplings were transported from the Northeast or Beijing. During the long transportation period on the road, saplings easily withered due to lack of water or respiratory disturbance."

Besides, it was not easy for weak saplings to grow roots in the wasteland; moreover, those saplings had been transported from a much better environment. No wonder many of them died shortly after being planted.

"The failure forced us to cultivate seeds to saplings ourselves."

Yet, it was definitely not an easy task growing saplings from pine seeds in a desert like land either.

There had been no precedent or similar examples of manmade afforestation in this alpine wasteland for reference. Everything had to be done from scratch. Days and nights, experts and technicians knuckled down in the farm land, exploring scientific ways of growing seedlings and planting saplings that could survive the local harsh conditions.

Chen Zhiqing, vice director of Saihanba forest farm, says the whole process is similar to raising a child.

"The foresters managed to apply direct-sunlight breeding. There is a strict set of procedures, from making beds to planting seeds, to the density of seeds, to seeds breaking, when to fertilise and when to water. We used organic fertiliser instead of chemical fertiliser. The whole process was carefully done the same way you raise a child."

Thanks to their great work, the seeds grew into saplings as expected, bringing hope to the foresters. Once more, thousands of self-cultivated saplings were transplanted to the land in the spring of 1964. Autumn of that year turned out to be a great success: 95% of the saplings had survived.

The campaign to reforest the area continued. And by the year 1976, 46,000 hectares of land in Saihanba had been reforested. Finally the foresters and the locals could breath a sigh of relief since their efforts were now paying off.

Unfortunately, no one foresaw the disaster that would hit the area again.

On October 26th, 1977, a seemingly common autumn rain misted Saihanba and later turned to a disastrous freezing rain. As the temperature dropped, the rain drops froze on the trees, that were on average ten years old.

"Even grass was covered with such thick ice, and all over trees. "

"While it rained, the drops froze. Heavy icicles outweighed trees, more than the trees could handle."

"As the days turned sunny and windy, tree trunks and branches swayed, bent and broke."

"Trunks broke. Canopies broke. Hearing the sounds of breakage and seeing the remnants of the trees, having been raised as if they were kids, every household of the foresters cried."

"Heart breaking; for those trees were planted by my parents and my parents' generation… "

That year, 38,000 hectares of trees were destroyed. Ruins were everywhere. For almost a year, Saihanba foresters had been picking up the pieces with tears. And then they started all over again.

Three years later, another 8400 hectares of larch died from a severe drought.

Two major natural disasters; but still that didn't put Saihanba people off. Instead it steeled their resolves and proved their resilience. They continued with tree planting task, introducing other types of tree, and improving afforestation techniques… Thanks to their efforts, Saihanba, the land that had been once wasted for 3 centuries had eventually become oasis.

One generation planted the trees, that another generation would use the shades to rest. But for Li Xingyuan, a first generation forester, forestation is far more than just planting trees.

"Tree planting is not enough. You need to manage well and protect the woods. These are even harder. "

Forest fires are the biggest challenge. During fire prevention periods in spring and autumn, local foresters are constantly on alert.

Over the past decades, Saihanba has strictly put in place a series of precautions to prevent forest fires, including fire inspection systems, fire lookout systems and forest ranger patrol systems. From fire prevention headquarters to fire brigades, fire lookouts to fireproof rangers, each one plays an important role.

"Everyone is on a tenterhook. During the fire-prevention period, all our mobile-phones are required 24/7 to be on and just in case duty calls."

At the fire-prevention headquarters of Saihanba forest farm, standing before a full wall of security monitors, deputy director Sun Wen'guo explains how intelligent the fire detection systems work and how the people monitoring potential fires help spot and locate a fire so that the nearest fire brigade troop can nip it in the bud as soon as they can.

It is so admirable that there has not been even one forest fire at Saihanba since the farm was founded.

Besides forest fires, Saihanba's trees also face the challenge of diseases and pests. This is because, compared to wild woods, the plantation ecosystem is more vulnerable due to its simple structure that lacks biodiversity. Hence the control of and dealing with forest diseases and pests is of vital importance.

Guo Zhifeng, head of Forest disease and pests control and quarantine centre at Saihanba forest farm, says that their work entails pests forecast, disease & pests prevention-and-cure, quarantine, census and scientific research.

"With regard to forest diseases & pests prevention and cure, we stick to our work-principle at Saihanba forest farm and that is: as long as the forest could self-control, there would be no human intervention; we can only expand our control to an area only when is necessary; as long as natural and physical control is workable, chemical control is not allowed. This is to minimise environmental pollution, improve the forests' self-control capability and to maintain the ecological balance. "

According to GUO, more than 160,000 hectares of forest at Saihanba has been well taken care of since 2000.

Over the past 55 years, the Saihanba Forest Farm has effectively blocked the southward movement of Hunshandake Sandland, and functioned as a green ecological barrier which stops sand sources from moving to the capital city, in the meantime conserving water source for Beijing and Tianjin at about 137 million cubic meters each year.

According to the Saihanba Mechanised Forest Farm, the regional microclimate has been effectively improved as well. Compared to the 1960s the past 10 years have seen Saihanba's annual frost free period increase by 12 days, annual precipitation increase by 50mm, and the annual strong wind days decrease by 30 days. Currently, the Saihanba forest absorbs at least 750,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, while releasing 550,000 tons of oxygen. Besides, the biodiversity of the forest has been enriched, with 293 types of terrestrial and aquatic fauna, 660 types of plants, and 660 types of insects.

On many occasions, Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the need for China to protect its environment in the same way as one "values his own eyes".

"Protecting the environment is to protect productivity. Improving the environment is to develop productive forces. We should protect the environment in the same way we value our own eye, We should protect the environment in the same way one treats his life. It is important to protect the environment while pursuing economic and social progress – to achieve harmony between man and nature, and harmony between man society."

Currently about 7.5 million hectares of Saihanba forest farm is forestland. By 2030, the number is expected to exceed 8 million hectares, with forest coverage of 86%.