Guiding Opinions on Further Strengthening the Protection of Wet Forest and Grass Resources and Strictly Regulating the Planting Behavior in Forests

Guiding Opinions of the Office of the People's Government of Tongliao Municipality on Further Strengthening the Protection of Wet Resources of Forests and Grasses and Strictly Regulating the Planting Behavior in Forests

The people's governments of all banner counties and districts, the management committees of development zones, the commissions and bureaus of the municipal government, and all enterprises and institutions:

In order to further protect forest resources and standardize forest planting behaviors, in accordance with the Forest Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and regulations, the National Guidelines for the Development of the Forest Economy (2021-2030) and other relevant policies and requirements of the state and autonomous regions on forest planting, combined with the objective reality of the city's forest resource endowment and ecological carrying capacity, the following guiding opinions are hereby put forward on forest planting:

1. Basic principles

(1) Adhere to ecological priority. On the premise of ensuring the safety of forest resources and ecological environment, not changing the use of forest land, and not affecting the normal growth of forest trees, scientific use of forest land resources, appropriate and reasonable forest planting.

(2) Adhere to scientific development. According to the regional natural conditions, forest resources and other conditions, scientific planning, rational layout, adhere to the main afforestation, according to local conditions to choose the forest planting mode.

(3) Adhere to standardized management. Strictly protect forest resources, standardize and improve the management mechanism of forest planting, carry out forest planting in an orderly manner, and give full play to the comprehensive benefits of forest resources.

Second, the forest planting specifications

(1) Forest land that is allowed to be used

Under the premise of ensuring the safety of forest resources and ecological environment and not changing the use of forest land, only commercial forest land is allowed to be moderately planted among forests.

(2) Forest land that is prohibited from being used

1. It is forbidden to use public welfare forest land, natural forest land, and forest land with a forest land protection level of Class I to carry out interforest planting;

2. It is forbidden to use forest land in nature reserves for interforest planting;

3. It is forbidden to use forest land within the protection zone of drinking water sources to carry out interforest planting;

4. It is forbidden to use the important habitats (habitats) of rare and endangered wild animals and plants and the forest land in the biological corridor to carry out interforest planting;

5. Other forest lands that are prohibited from carrying out interforest planting as stipulated by laws and regulations.

(3) Planting mode

1. Completely stop the "forest grain" intercropping mode, in principle, only allow to carry out "forest medicine", "forest grass", "forest fungus", "forest vegetables", "forest seedlings" and other composite management models, planting varieties should be selected in principle, perennial cash crops.

2. It is strictly forbidden to grow any grain and oil crops, including beans, cereals, etc.

3. It is strictly forbidden to plant cash crops that are easy to cause soil erosion, wind erosion and desertification, such as peanuts, watermelons, etc.

4. It is strictly forbidden to plant tall crops that affect the ventilation and lighting of trees, such as silage crops, sunflowers, etc.

5. It is strictly forbidden to plant cash crops that need to be deeply ploughed and deeply cultivated, and damage the forest land and forest roots.

6. It is strictly forbidden to plant harmful species that harm the safety of the ecological environment.

(4) Other requirements

1. Under the premise that the empirical harvest of afforestation plots reaches the standard of afforestation, the preservation rate of the number of trees reaches more than 65% (more than 85% of economic forests), and the canopy density of trees reaches more than 0.2 and the shrub coverage reaches more than 40%, the interforest planting can be carried out in an orderly and appropriate manner according to the requirements of these Opinions. Before the reforestation of felling land and the land that has not been afforested, it shall not be reclaimed and cultivated, and it shall be replaced by cultivation.

2. The reforestation task must be completed in the current or following year of felling. The reforestation of felling sites should comply with the relevant technical standards such as the Technical Regulations for Afforestation in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (DB15/T389-2021). For plots that are reforested in a square configuration such as a determinant, the spacing between the rows of trees shall not be greater than 6 meters, and the spacing between the rows of shrubs shall not be greater than 4 meters.

3. The protective belt of more than 1 meter must be kept on both sides of the forest belt, and no crops are allowed to be planted in the protective belt, and the planting of crops beyond 1 meter shall not affect the normal growth of trees, and the tree ditch and ditch shall be kept free of weeds all year round; Do not overprune the tree, and keep the crown length not less than 2/3 of the height of the tree after pruning.

4. The type of forest and the type of forest land shall not be changed without authorization during reforestation. For example, it is not allowed to change public welfare forests into commercial forests, arbor forests into shrub forests, etc.

5. To carry out forest planting, we should actively promote perennial drought-resistant varieties and water-saving measures, and no new mechanical and electrical wells shall be drilled on existing forest land, and new water source wells on undeveloped forest land shall be approved by the water affairs department.

6. It is forbidden to use herbicides and pesticides that affect the normal growth of trees, and shall not cause forest land pollution.

3. Safeguard measures

(1) Compaction management responsibility. The governments of all banner counties and municipalities should strengthen the organization and leadership of standardizing the work of forest planting, and earnestly assume the main responsibility for the management of forest planting behavior in their own regions, and formulate and issue detailed rules and measures for forest planting behavior in their respective regions and a negative list of forest planting varieties in combination with this guiding opinion. Consolidate the supervision responsibilities of forest chiefs at the two levels of Sumu township and Gacha village, establish a grid member system with Gacha village as a unit, integrate the work force of towns and villages, and clarify the supervision and management responsibilities of grid members in each area for forest planting.

(2) Standardize planting procedures. Contractors whose plots conform to the forest planting policy and are willing to cultivate shall submit an application for cultivation to the contracting entity, clarify the types of crops to be planted, and promise not to destroy the normal growth of the forest during the cultivation period. After receiving the application, if the contracting entity agrees with the contractor to cultivate, it shall report the forest planting plots in the jurisdiction to the forest chief's office at the two levels of Qixian County, urban area and Sumu township.

(3) Strengthen routine supervision. In the process of planting in the forest, the Sumu Township Government, the "two committees" of Gacha Village and the contract issuing party should earnestly assume the responsibility of daily supervision, organize the Sumu Township Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau, grassroots forest rangers, grid personnel, etc. to strengthen daily inspections, real-time monitoring of the growth status and preservation rate of forest trees, stop and order corrections in time when problems are found, and promptly transfer the clues of the case of destruction of forests and grasses to the public security organs. Resolutely avoid the actual cultivation of crop types that are inconsistent with the commitment, and do not carry out forest planting in accordance with the Guiding Opinions and the detailed rules and regulations of Qixian County, and the tree preservation rate and crown width do not meet the prescribed standards, stop planting in the forest, and order rectification within a time limit; For those who refuse to make corrections or the rectification does not conform to the relevant provisions, the Sumu Township Government, the Gacha Villager Committee and the contract issuing party shall terminate the land contract and withdraw the right to operate in accordance with laws and regulations; In accordance with the Forest Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and regulations, the public security organs shall punish illegal reclamation acts, and pursue criminal responsibility if they constitute a crime. Relevant personnel who fail to perform their duties in supervision and cause negative consequences are to be pursued and held accountable in accordance with regulations, discipline, and law.

The governments of all banner counties and municipalities shall, in accordance with these Guiding Opinions, formulate and issue specific implementation opinions in light of actual conditions, and submit the specific implementation opinions to the Municipal Forestry and Grassland Bureau for filing and review.

March 27, 2024

(This is a public release)