Inner Mongolia seeks to build ecological shelter

Red guardian of forest

There are two special colors in the Chuoer forestry bureau, green and red. They represent the green forest all over the mountains and plains and the fire-fighting vehicles and firefighters' suits, respectively.

Qi Xutao, who began his career as a firefighter in 1992, has been engaged in forest fire prevention for almost 20 years. As the leader of the fire brigade of the forestry bureau, he and his team have to take up their residence in the fire prevention quarters and start their paramilitary collective standby life when the fire prevention season for the forest zone begins on April 1.

Deputy Director Qin Zhijiang, in charge of forest fire prevention and having worked on the mountain for more than 20 years, has witnessed the development of fire prevention and fighting in the forest and learned in person the inseparable connection between forest fire prevention and environmental protection.

Situated in the southwest of the forest zone of the Greater Khingan Range, the Chuoer forestry bureau has an earlier fire prevention season than other forestry bureaus.

The fire prevention season lasts from April 1 to June 15 every year. The forestry bureau would set up a control station at the seven entries to the forest zone to examine fire prevention certificates and permits for entry to the forest zone.

Moreover, the Chuoer forestry bureau was the first to propose the idea of establishing a professional fire brigade in the Greater Khingan Range. It has organized a quasi-professional fire prevention team of 60 - 120 members.

“It used to take hours to organize a firefighting team. Now it only takes three minutes to gather the team, and a day to put out the fire in accordance to the emergency response plan," Qi said.

"The Chuoer forestry bureau has received a national investment of 30 million yuan ($4.8 million) for the comprehensive treatment of high risk areas since 2005. Priority should be placed on precaution in the work of forest fire prevention. Fire prevention and fire extinction are guarantees for the environmentally friendly Greater Khingan Range," said Qin Zhijiang.

Better ecology creates value

Yuxi Park between the Chuoer River and Taerqi town.[Photo provided to China Daily]

There is a park featuring the style of Jiangnan gardens between the Chuoer River and Taerqi town. Many forestry employees exercise here everyday. The employees of the Chaoer forestry bureau have named it Yuxi Park.

With the restoration of forest vegetation, wild animals like swans, cranes, gulls and roe deer often appear near the office buildings of the forestry bureau, and sometimes even wild ducks appear in the residential quarters.

In 2013, the accumulative tourist volume to the forest zone of the Greater Khingan Range reached 650,000, with an increase of 23.57 percent year-on-year. The consolidated tourism revenue reached 357 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.52 percent.

Starting from the Chuoer forestry bureau, there is a road linking some well-known tourist attractions. It is also a travel channel that connects Yakeshi and Hulunbuir cities and Hinggan League. If the remaining sandstone road could be upgraded into an asphalt one, the green tourism resources of the three areas can be connected, which will not only shorten travel time, but also realize resource sharing and eventually drive the tourism economy to develop in a better way, introduced by Qin.