Inner Mongolia Planting Trip of 2023

‘It’s an awakening trip for me. I sincerely hope that all the saplings that we planted as volunteers will grow and turn into big trees one day, sheltering the beautiful Horqin land, ‘ shared by one of our volunteers after the tree planting trip. The Million Tree Project was started for the hopes like this, and these hopes motivated us to keep going. In June, we restarted the planting trips to get more people involved.

Because it is summertime and the planting site is mostly shifting sandy land, we chose the highly adaptative shrubs to plant, including Hemiptelea davidii and Caragana. Despite of the hot weather, 125 volunteers from 18 different companies and schools planted over 1100 shrubs on Horqin sandy land in total.

Digging the hole, planting and watering were not easy jobs. Repeating these works over and over, the volunteers understood now it would take a generation or more to fight desertification, and they also felt proud that they made the efforts. The staff organized the workshop on Ecological Niche, explaining how it plays the role when choosing what tree species to plant in sand control.

The volunteer went to Kulun Qi to visit Taminchagan Desert on the other day. The staff introduced the knowledge of desertification and the biological, engineering, and technological measures for combating desertification. They learnt about the desertification by seeing firsthand. The measures, such as tree planting are key to control the desertification and stop it from expanding. In the afternoon, the volunteers went to the forest site where a mix of poplars and pines were planted back in 2012. They helped to prune the trees. Pruning, along with other nurturing methods are important for the trees to grow healthily and forming a shelter for the surrounding villages.

On the last day, the volunteers shared their thoughts and expectations. They have learnt more about desertification and how to tackle the problem. They can’t wait to bring home this knowledge and share with families and friends. They want to urge others to join. The planting trip only last a few days. What we could do during the trip is limited, such as one tree, one straw grid, one seedling, but getting more people involved will bring together unlimited power and transform the degraded land into forests.

Thanks to our partners for your support!