Spruce seedlings (Picea balfouriana) in Junba Nursery. Without greenhouse protection it takes Litang Forest Bureau five long years to grow the seedlings in the nursery before seedlings are planted out on slopes in Chunba/Junba Valley. © Daniel Winkler, June 1999, 3400m, Yaolinba, Litang County, Ganzi TAP, W-Sichuan | Poplar clones in Chaksum (Pinyin: Caosang) nursery. Forest bureaus have been active since many years in planting poplars. Unfortunately, if poplars are not protected well, livestock will not leave them a chance to grow by eating leaves and peeling the bark. © Daniel Winkler, Feb. 1999, 3900m, Chaksum Litang County, Ganzi TAP, W-Sichuan |
Seedlings of the native Cupressus chengiana (Cheng's Cypress, Pinyin: Minjiang Baimu) have been planted in perforated plastic bags, where they will be grown in a nursery for 1-3 years. The higher cost of such seedling cultivation are off-set by greatly improved survival chances of seedlings on drier and exposed slopes. The bag holds retains more moisture and sometimes also slow realise fertilizer is added. This technique is spreading in the region for reforestation of degraded slopes. © Daniel Winkler April 2002, 2700m, Barkam / Ma'erkang County, Aba TAP, W-Sichuan |
Spruce seedlings (Picea balfouriana) in Luhuo Nursery, Ganzi Prefecture's head nursery. In summer bamboo mats are rolled out on the post and bar structures. Also in Luhuo seedlings are seeded in greenhouses before transplanting in the second year. On the slope in the background Drangu Gompa. © Daniel Winkler February 1999, 3320m, Drangu/Luhuo County, Ganzi TAP, W-Sichuan |