Guiyang and Gui'an see increase in both forest coverage and stock

According to a press conference on the development of Guiyang City and Gui'an New Area's forest chief for 2023, Guiyang and Gui'an have focused on upholding the 55 percent forest coverage red line and pursuing high-quality development in the green economy.

Through afforestation projects and volunteer tree planting activities, Guiyang and Gui'an have planted 6.15 million trees, including Phoebe zhennan, tulip trees, and Idesia.

As pilot programs, the Shunhai State-owned Forest Farm and Changpoling State-owned Forest Farm initiated the transformation of 2,000 mu (133.33 hectares) of Chinese red pines, creating multi-colored forest demonstration areas echoing with seasonal changes.

Guiyang and Gui'an have also intensified efforts to nurture non-forested areas. Their forest coverage rate increased from 43.2 percent in 2012 to today's 55.3 percent, with a forest volume of 25.34 million cubic meters.

In a bid to preserve the ecosystems of Karst small and micro wetlands, Guiyang and Gui'an have established four national wetland parks, six provincial wetlands, and 15 wetland protection zones.

Guiyang has undertaken a comprehensive study on the wintering population of the Chinese merganser in the city, conducted health check-ups on 4,033 ancient trees and created digital identity cards for them. It has also rejuvenated 85 ancient trees.

In addition, the city has established 18 disease monitoring systems in critical wetlands like Hongfeng Lake, Baihua Lake, and Aha Lake, and has created a provincial wildlife disease monitoring station in Huaxi district.

At Qingzhen's Hongfeng Lake, endangered Chinese mergansers were discovered for the first time, affirming the indicating a significant improvement in the area's environment.