Pretty green

Yan'an had tried to turn the over-plowed farmland into forests before the 1999 nationwide program started, but with little success.

Saplings provided for planting by local authorities were either removed by farmers seeking to expand their land holdings or eaten by hungry goats wandering the hills in search of food.

The ambitious new reforestation program had two major goals - to stop the land degradation and restructure rural industry.

It was also intended to boost rural incomes and navigate farmers away from unsustainable practices.

Many villagers were encouraged to plant trees that could make cash, such as apple and apricot trees, but commercial plantations could not exceed one-fifth of the total reforested area.

With grazing banned on hills, local governments also funded projects to raise livestock indoors or grow vegetables in greenhouses.

By the end of last year, the municipal government in Yan'an said it had reforested more than 718,000 hectares once used for farming, about 2.1 percent of the national total of reforested land and 27 percent of the province's total.

Wang Binqiang, a farmer in Yan'an who has relinquished about 2 hectares of land over the past two decades, said his family of five once earned a meager income from corn, soybean and millet. In 2010, with government assistance, the reforestation campaign forced him to plant apple trees.

"As the trees begin to bear fruit, the income soared," 45-year-old Wang said. "I've earned 70,000 yuan this year, and I expect the number to top 200,000 yuan next year."

Yang Shuwei, head of Fengzhuang village in Yan'an's northern suburbs, said the reforestation campaign, now in its 20th year, had revolutionized locals' approach to farming.

In Wuqi county, reforestation has freed farmers from toiling on low-yield land, enabling them to work in cities and earn a higher income.

With an improved environment, Nangou village has become a scenic area with lush mountains, a vast lake and a cave hotel modeled after local folk houses.

After retiring as the village Party chief last year, Yan Zhixiong established a tourism cooperative with his fellow farmers. He said they earned 1 million yuan in revenue in less than a year.

"We are planning to expand the parking lot and improve the catering service so as to attract more visitors," he said, adding they hired locals who did not have to travel far for work.

Despite the program's progress, Hao Yunfeng, deputy director of the city's Yichuan county, noted that the reforested areas are not pristine forests. He said they lacked biodiversity, were not ecologically robust and could not support a complicated ecosystem.

Asked how long it would take to restore the area's full ecological capacity, he seemed uncertain. "It may take 50 years, a century or even longer," he said.