Forestry

	This slope in Wolongshi (East Nyagchuka / Yajiang County) has been stripped completely from its spruce-fir forests. It has been reforested in recent years. Many hundred hectares of adjacent forest areas in this Yalong side valley burned to the ground in 1993. February 1999, 4300m  Nyagchuka / Yajiang County, Ganzi TAP, Sichuan, © Daniel Winkler  Note: Wolongshi has nothing in common with Wolong Panda Reserve)
	20 ha clearcut in Litang's Chungba ( Sino-Tibetan: Kyangba, Pinyin: Junba) Valley. This slope was cut in summer 1998 before the logging ban was enacted. The former fir-spruce forest is being replaced by a spruce plantation. Hopefully some fir will find its way into the plantation to diversify the monoculture. However, the main challenge for regrowth will be grazing livestock. Locals did not benefit from these logging operation run by the county. Thus, they have no interest in supporting forest regrowth. Yet the benefits of their livestock herding is the basis of their subsistence. Litang, Ganzi TAP, June 1999, 4000m © Daniel Winkler
	Local Tibetans loading timber cut for the reconstruction of nearby Palpung monastery. © Daniel Winkler Photo: Aug 18, 1998, Derge County, Ganzi TAP

 

Timber loading in Chungba (Pinyin: Junba), Litang County. The timber was cut before the logging ban of Sept. 1, 1998. © Daniel Winkler, June 1999, 3900m	Li Yong, vice-director of Litang Forest Bureau, lights up while Huadan inspects a Chinese made chainsaw. © Daniel Winkler,Litang, June 1999, 4000m
Clearcut in Ranlonggou, Chunba (Junba) Valley, Litang County. What remains from the logging operation are big piles of timber on the base of the slope and from debris flows devastated valley grounds. Some of the trees were spoiled by stem rot and left on site. However, a lot of good timber was regarded as inferior and simply left to rot. Currently these remainings are mined for firewood. This slope was cut in 1994. Some areas were planted in 1996. Most of these seedlings have died. The slope was planted again in 2000. Locals can be seen planting in the middle of the slope. This time protective tripods were used to protect seedlings from grazing livestock. © Daniel Winkler Photo: May 1, 2000, 3700m, Junba, Litang, Ganzi TAP	This slide shows the valley ground, and the base of the slope with the newly erected fence. Since grazing pressure kept up and seedling survival was endangered this fence was erected in consultation with the villagers of Lendo, who own the grazing rights in fall 2001. The villagers were hired to build a fence in spring 2002 and hired to guard the area for five years. This income will off-set the locals' loss of grazing land. This project has been described in my Participation in Forestry Paper 2002. © Daniel Winkler Photo: April 24, 2002, 3700m, Junba, Litang, Ganzi TAP
Former Provincial Logging Unit compound in Nyarong / Xinlong. This photo shows just a section of the whole installation, where several thousand Chinese worked and lived, most of them hired from the Sichuan lowlands. After the 1998 logging ban many outposts of the logging units have been shut down and workers laid off. © Daniel Winkler Photo: April 23, 2002,	A subsidiary compound of the logging unit in North Nyarong, which has been given up and is salvaged for its timber. © Daniel Winkler. Nyarong County / Xinlong Xian, Photo: April 20, 2002,

Last edited on Fri, April 2, 2021, 5:47 pm