Saihanba: Environmental Restoration
Saihanba is a Mongolian word meaning "beautiful mountain ridges and source of water." It is located on the plateau in north Hebei Province. In the past, Saihanba had plenty of water and lush pastures, dense forests and abundant wildlife. It was part of the royal hunting ground in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
However, large-scale reclamation and excessive logging began in the 1860s. Mountain fires and wars made the situation even worse. By the early 1950s, primitive forests were nowhere to be seen, and Saihanba had become a desolate wild land with a bad climate and serious desertification.
After the People's Republic was founded in 1949, afforestation began to attract increasing government attention. In the mid-1950s, Mao Zedong made a call to the nation to turn the country green. In 1961, the Ministry of Forestry decided to build an artificial forest farm in north Hebei, and Saihanba was chosen as the site. The following year, the Saihanba mechanized forest farm was set up. A total of 127 college graduates came from across the country. At the very beginning, together with local workers, 369 pioneers engaged in planting trees on this vast land.
Struggling against the harsh conditions, strong winds, and severe cold, three generations of foresters have devoted themselves to Saihanba. After more than half a century, they have built the world's largest area of man-made forest, across an area of 75,000 hectares with a forest coverage of 80 percent, which has effectively stopped the southward expansion of the desert in the north.
To balance economic development and environmental protection, the forest farm has adopted various measures. These include reinforcing management to ensure security of forest resources and significant ecological benefits, using self-raised funds and advanced technology to green the barren mountains and sandy land, improving the industrial structure, reducing lumber cutting quotas, and developing forest tourism, sapling nursery, and forest carbon sink projects. These efforts have turned the forests into a green bank that helps sustain the farm's further production, improve the workers' lives, and help the local people escape poverty.
When inspecting Saihanba in August 2021, Xi Jinping said that the forest farm's history is a saga of arduous endeavor. The workers have forged a spirit of staying true to their original mission, hard work and enterprise, and pursuing green development. They have played an exemplary role in national eco-environmental conservation.
By building a huge sea of man-made forest, Saihanba has set an example in eco-environmental conservation. The workers have won the Champions of the Earth Award, the UN's highest honor for environmental protection, and the farm has become a national model of poverty alleviation.
The experience of Saihanba proves that natural ecosystems can have their vulnerable and degraded areas restored, and that sandy land and barren mountains can become lush after persistent and science-based efforts. Green development can turn environmental strength into economic strength, and turn green mountains into mountains of gold.
塞罕坝生态修复建设
塞罕坝，蒙古语中意为“美丽的山岭水源之地”，位于河北省最北部的坝上地区。历史上，这里水草丰美、森林茂密、鸟兽繁多，曾是清朝木兰围场的一部分。从19世纪60年代起，这里开围放垦，树木被大肆砍伐，加之战争和山火等原因，到20世纪50年代初期，原始森林荡然无存，退变为气候恶劣、沙化严重、偏远闭塞的茫茫荒原。
新中国成立后，国家十分重视国土绿化。20世纪50年代中期，毛泽东发出“绿化祖国”的伟大号召。1961年，国家林业部决定在河北北部建立大型机械林场，并选址塞罕坝。1962年，塞罕坝机械林场正式组建。来自全国18个省市的127名大中专毕业生，与当地干部职工一起组成了一支369人的创业队伍，拉开了塞罕坝造林绿化的历史帷幕。
经过半个多世纪的接力奋斗，三代塞罕坝人在这片风大寒冷、人迹罕至的塞外高原上，成功营造出总面积112万亩、森林覆盖率达到80%的世界上最大的人工林海，有效地阻滞了内蒙古浑善达克沙地南侵。为处理好经济发展与环境保护的关系，林场通过严格管护、科学营林，确保森林资源安全，并释放其最大生态红利；追加自筹资金，采用先进技术在荒山沙地、贫瘠山地开展攻坚造林，增加资源储备；优化产业结构，大幅压缩木材采伐限额，依靠资源优势有序有节地发展森林旅游观光业、绿化苗木产业及森林碳汇项目，使这片林海逐步成为林场生产发展、职工生活改善、周边群众脱贫致富的“绿色银行”。
2021年8月，习近平在塞罕坝机械林场考察时指出，塞罕坝林场建设史是一部可歌可泣的艰苦奋斗史。塞罕坝人用实际行动铸就了牢记使命、艰苦创业、绿色发展的塞罕坝精神，这对全国生态文明建设具有重要示范意义。
塞罕坝成功营造起百万亩人工林海，创造了世界生态文明建设史上的典型，林场建设者获得联合国环保最高荣誉——地球卫士奖，机械林场荣获全国脱贫攻坚楷模称号。塞罕坝林场的实践证明，对于生态脆弱、生态退化地区，只要科学定位，久久为功，自然生态系统就可以得到修复重建，让沙地荒山变成绿水青山；只要坚持绿色发展，就可以将生态优势转化为经济优势，让绿水青山成为金山银山。
