The Yellow River runs through the city, and the green is full of golden city. For Lanzhou people, green waters and green mountains are never distant scenery, but poetry and fireworks integrated into daily life - walking in the pocket park in the morning, oxygen in the forest park in the afternoon, and enjoying the greenery on the bank of the Yellow River in the evening.
While guarding the ecological security barrier in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, our city has embarked on a road of green development with win-win ecological benefits, economic benefits and people's livelihood benefits, so that every citizen can share the fruitful results of green development.
Ecological account: quantifiable green results and a solid ecological base
In recent years, the city has continued to promote land greening, and the protection and restoration of forest and grass resources have achieved remarkable results, especially the construction of the Three North Shelter Forest System Project (hereinafter referred to as the "Three North Project"), which has injected strong green momentum into building a solid ecological foundation and promoting high-quality development. After long-term unremitting efforts, the total forest and grass resources in the city have grown steadily, and the diversity, stability and sustainability of the ecosystem have been continuously enhanced.
During the construction, the city is based on the overall situation of ecological governance in the Yellow River Basin and gives full play to the typical guiding role, among which the practical results of Yuzhong County are particularly outstanding, providing a "Lanzhou model" that can be referenced and promoted for ecological restoration in arid and semi-arid areas. The Gongjing Forest Site is located in the northern mountainous area of Yuzhong County, with an average altitude of more than 2,200 meters, and was once deserted. In accordance with the principles of promoting the whole mountain system and the whole river basin, centralized and contiguous comprehensive management, and highlighting the scale benefits of the whole area, the county party committee and the county government have implemented the greening and restoration model of water to determine the forest, the forest to the water, improve the quality and efficiency, and steadily advance the greening and restoration model, so as to realize the large-scale transformation of "from point to surface, from surface to piece", and truly achieve "planting one piece into one piece", and the barren mountains and slopes in the past have gradually transformed into a "green barrier", and the species and number of wild animals in the county have increased by more than 10% compared with before the treatment, known as "Longshang Saihan Dam". It has become a typical example of ecological restoration in arid and semi-arid areas in China, and gradually explored and formed a set of replicable and generalizable "Lanzhou models", contributing valuable practical experience and technical wisdom to ecological restoration in similar areas.
The construction of the city's "Three Norths" project is a history of hard work and a symphony of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the city's ecological construction has achieved remarkable results, and a series of solid data outline a heavy green background: at present, a total of 1,153,500 mu of forest has been completed, 205,500 mu of grassland ecological restoration and management have been completed, the forest land area has increased from 2,197,200 mu to 2,839,100 mu, the forest stock has increased by 184,200 cubic meters, the city's forest coverage rate has increased from 8.35% to 10.63%, and the grassland vegetation coverage has increased from 55.02% to 57.33%. The total value of forest, grass and wet green ecosystem services in the city is 45.173 billion yuan, and the total amount of forest carbon sequestration in the city is 7.9631 million tons, worth 8.496 billion yuan.
Up to now, the greening of the north and south mountains has survived 160 million trees of all kinds, 424 species of plants in 75 families, and 76 common vertebrate species, 236,000 mu of Sheungshui project afforestation area has a high canopy density, and 384,000 mu of arid afforestation area has activated native vegetation. According to the assessment of Lanzhou University in 2025, the comprehensive value of the ecological service functions of the north and south mountains in Lanzhou City is 11.169 billion yuan, the annual water conservation is 20.3293 million cubic meters, the annual carbon sequestration is 830,900 tons, the annual oxygen release is 849,200 tons, the annual soil fixation is 61,400 tons, the annual dust retention is 296,900 tons, the conservation soil quality is 73,200 tons, the nutrient fixation mass is 10,500 tons, the purified atmospheric environment is 468,600 tons, and the regulated microclimate mass is 33,200 × 1013 kJ.
The people of Lanzhou water the green with sweat and protect their homeland with perseverance, making the sky bluer, the mountains greener, and the water clearer on the banks of the Yellow River. Kong Xuejing, deputy chief of the afforestation section of the Municipal Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said: "At present, the construction of the sixth phase of the Three North Project has entered a critical period, and our city will firmly grasp the major strategic opportunities of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, continue to carry forward the 'Three North Spirit', focus on the implementation of planning, strengthen factor guarantees, optimize project management, strictly control the quality threshold, and make every effort to promote various construction tasks, and strive to build the Yellow River's 'several bends' Lanzhou battle into a high-quality project in the province and even the whole country." ”
According to the latest data, the city's forest land area reached 2,839,100 mu, including 838,400 mu of arbor forests and 1,423,400 mu of shrub forests, and 2,103,500 mu of forest area, with a forest coverage rate of 10.63%. Grassland resources are abundant, with a total area of 9,813,400 mu, and grassland vegetation coverage is stable at 57.33%. The wetland ecosystem has been effectively protected, covering an area of 187,400 acres, and has become a habitat for many wild animals and plants, with 435 species of terrestrial wild vertebrates recorded. In addition, the city has established 8 nature reserves of various types, including 2 national nature reserves and 6 natural parks, with a total area of 1.249 million mu, forming a relatively complete nature reserve network and providing a solid space guarantee for biodiversity conservation.
Economic account: ecological realization empowers new energy and green output value promotes income increase
How can ecological advantages be transformed into economic advantages? Lanzhou gave a clear answer. Under the guidance of policy support and demonstration, the city's understory economy has been upgraded from a single planting and breeding to a diversified development model of "understory planting and breeding + understory picking + leisure tourism", which has further enhanced the income-generating ability of business entities, and a number of typical business entities have stood out and become the "main force" of ecological realization.
In Gaidi Village, Qingcheng Town, Yuzhong County, villager Li Jun became a celebrity in the village by planting fruit trees. Li Jun introduced that he has been planting fruit trees here since 2001, and now there are more than 2,000 winter jujubes, pear dates, walnuts, etc. in the garden, and the seedlings such as apricots, winter jujubes, and pear dates are all from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the growth is very gratifying. Every picking season, many tourists come to experience the fun of picking. He smiled and pointed to the apricots hanging all over the branches and said to reporters: "Trees nourish people, green makes money." ”
In recent years, the city has taken ecological restoration as the foundation, industrial integration as the key, and carbon sink transformation into a new engine, continuously promoted the high-quality development of forestry and grassland, achieved a good trend of two-way empowerment and coordinated promotion of ecological protection and economic development, and injected strong impetus into Lanzhou's ecological security barrier.
Innovation leads and activates new momentum for forestry carbon sinks. Lanzhou City has steadily promoted the development of CCER afforestation carbon sink projects, accurately screened 360,000 acres of eligible forest land, and promoted the standardized development of the forestry carbon sink industry. At the same time, the promulgation of the "Lanzhou Forestry Carbon Coupon Management Measures" was promoted, and the first forestry carbon ticket development and transaction was successfully completed, involving 3,135 acres of forest land and 20,000 tons of carbon sinks, turning "green" into tradable assets and realizing the market-oriented transformation of ecological value. According to professional calculations, at present, the total value of ecosystem services in the city's forests, grasslands, wetlands, gardens and green spaces has reached 45.173 billion yuan.
In terms of promoting the reform of the collective forest rights system, the city has successfully completed three key reform tasks such as the "separation of three rights" of collective forest land, and has issued a total of 482 forest rights real estate certificates and 14,908 income warrants, investigated and resolved 663 historical problems of forest rights, revised and issued the "Lanzhou Collective Forest Rights Circulation Transaction Rules", and added 6 new forest rights transfers, effectively revitalizing forest and grass resource assets and stimulating the vitality of the development of the forest and grassland industry.
With the gradual improvement of service content and service level by industry associations such as Lanzhou Flower Association, Lanzhou Seedling Association, and Lanzhou Leisure Agriculture and Rural Tourism Industry Association, a linkage development mechanism of "industry association + leading enterprise + cooperative + farmer" has been formed, which has effectively promoted the scale, standardization and branding development of the understory economy industry, further enhanced the income-generating ability of business entities, and truly transformed ecological resources into real green output value.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the city completed the "separation of three rights" of collective forest land ownership, contracting rights and management rights, and actively and steadily guided the circulation of forest rights. Vigorously develop characteristic forest and grass industries such as forest health care, seedlings and flowers and understory economy, develop 188,000 mu of economic forest industries such as Wenguan fruit and walnut, 36,000 mu of understory planting, 712,700 heads (only) of understory breeding, and 16,400 mu of forest landscape utilization area. The forest seedling seedling area has reached 8,520 acres, the seedling output is 22.5 million plants, the flower greenhouse planting area has reached 1,926 acres, and the seedling and flower industry has more than 2,600 employees, with an annual turnover of 277 million yuan. There are 265 registered forestry professional cooperatives, achieving an annual output value of 360 million yuan in the understory economy, and achieving remarkable results in ecological enrichment.
Huang Wengang, chief of the reform and development section of the Municipal Forestry and Grassland Bureau, introduced that in the new year, it will continue to deepen forestry reform and innovation, and continuously expand the path of realizing ecological value. Focus on promoting the development of forestry carbon sinks and accelerate the development of CCER afforestation carbon sink projects. Continue to deepen the reform of the collective forest rights system, check and fill in the gaps in tasks such as "separation of three rights", moderate-scale operation, and forest logging management, and steadily promote the implementation of the remaining five reform tasks. Cultivate and expand the forest and grass industry, promote the business model of "enterprise + cooperative + farmer", focus on the development of understory economy such as understory planting, understory breeding and forest landscape utilization, promote the quality and efficiency of the forest and grass industry, become better and stronger, and continue to paint a new picture of Lanzhou's ecological beauty, industrial prosperity and people's wealth, so that the green mountains can truly become a "golden mountain", so that the forest land can effectively become a "treasure land", and achieve the win-win goal of ecological protection and enriching the people's income.
People's livelihood account: micro-green moisturizing the heart warms the people's hearts, and ecological well-being benefits thousands of families
Pushing the window to see the green and going out into the park has become a daily routine within the reach of the people. Walking through the streets of Jincheng, from the "Jade Ruyi" pavilion corridor of Nanguan Cross to the child-friendly space of Tianshui Road, from the small and micro green space on the corner of the community to the exquisite amusement park on the shore of the Yellow River, pocket parks are like scattered jade, embedded between urban buildings, reflecting various theme parks, accurately delivering ecological well-being to the doorstep of citizens, and writing a warm people's livelihood answer sheet of "small parks carry great happiness and microspaces highlight great people's livelihood".
The beauty of the city lies in refinement; The warmth of people's livelihood lies in the details. As a typical river valley city, urban construction land is tight and green space is limited, so green fair coverage and inclusive benefits have always been an important issue in urban construction. In recent years, our city has closely followed the national standard of "300 meters to see green, 500 meters to see the garden", listed pocket parks and street greening as key people's livelihood facts and important contents of urban renewal, adhered to the principle of "seeing the gaps and inserting green, and accurately distributing green", vigorously revitalized the "sleeping space" such as demolition vacant land, corner wasteland, and idle sites, and transformed the cluttered and barren corners in the past into urban green living rooms with scenery in all seasons and convenience and practicality.
In Nanguan Cross, Chengguan District, the former idle plots have been renovated and upgraded, and more than 4,000 square meters of pocket parks have been built, with 217 trees forming dense green shade, more than 60,000 shrubs paving a sea of colorful flowers, and the "Ruyi" shaped steel structure corridor is beautiful and practical, and fitness equipment, leisure seats, and convenient service facilities are all available. Such changes can be seen everywhere in Jincheng: the rose garden in Qilihe District highlights the theme of flowers and creates a romantic and exquisite landscape atmosphere; Tianshui Road Cross Park focuses on "one old and one young", and simultaneously configures children's play areas and elderly fitness areas; The park in front of the Provincial People's Hospital has set up a convenient station, equipped with charging facilities and a health publicity corner, so that the green space is warmer and more close to people's livelihood.
By the end of 2025, the city has built 182 pocket parks, and the service radius coverage rate of urban park greening activity venues has reached 85.32%, initially forming a park city pattern with global greening, balanced gardens, and convenient access. Urban green space has realized the transformation from "whether there is or not" to "whether it is excellent or not", from the accumulation of quantity to the qualitative leap, always guided by the needs of the masses, so that every green space serves and benefits the people.
Focusing on the three core functions of ecology, service and culture, the city actively integrates into the blueprint of urban development and ecological construction, and makes precise efforts to create 12 characteristic cultural landscape attractions. Jiuzhou Station has built 4 small parks, including the Faience Expo Park, Jincheng Silk Road Park, Business Garden, and Peony Garden, to display characteristic regional culture; Wuyi Mountain renovated the Gansu Provincial Labor Movement History Exhibition Hall to create a theme square of "Aerospace Spirit, Mogao Spirit, and Iron Man Spirit"; Shifogou National Forest Park has completed the maintenance and new construction of 7 scenic spots such as Viewing Square, Ruyi Yin, and Valley Camp; Lanshan Forest Park combined with the construction of the "Smoke and Rain Lanshan" Rural Revitalization Demonstration Belt, created 5 kilometers of ditch flower belts along the highway, created 8 painted landscapes, cultivated more than 30,000 petunias and large-flowered begonias, outlining the Lanshan picture scroll of evergreen in all seasons and flowers in three seasons.
Focusing on creating a safe, comfortable and comfortable park environment for citizens, the city has strengthened infrastructure construction, built a total of 16.27 kilometers of roads and hiking trails, and added 12 parking lots of 46,200 square meters. Jiuzhou Terrace built 7.3 kilometers of Luojiu Highway Sports Belt and 6.97 kilometers of fire prevention passage from Guanshangou to Jiuzhou Terrace; Xigu Nanshan built a parking lot of 5,400 square meters, and Shifogou built 2 kilometers of hiking trails, 6 parking lots and 4 toilets; Lanshan added 5 parking lots and 158 parking spaces. At the same time, the construction of convenient facilities has been actively promoted, and Shifogou is equipped with 32 sets of guided tours and monitoring systems; Jiuzhou Station has set up 1 street view shop car, 5 vending machines, and 3 tea stations along the Luojiu Highway; Renshou Mountain upgraded and renovated 12 farmhouse courtyards, equipped with 9 vending machines and 6 shared power banks; Xujiashan Investment Promotion introduced 8 business entities to settle in the park, arranged 9 commercial floats and 1 mobile public toilet, effectively improving the service carrying capacity and tourist satisfaction of the park.
There is no end to ecological benefits to the people, only a continuous new starting point. This year, the city will continue to promote the construction of garden Lanzhou, and continue to build and renovate small amusement parks and pocket parks to improve the quality of road greening. According to the plan, the city will also promote the construction of 30 urban green parks, add and renovate 120 hectares of green space, create a number of high-quality green landscapes, and steadily achieve the goal of "reaching the green space square in 5 minutes", so that the masses can enjoy high-quality green leisure space at their doorstep. (Chief reporter of this newspaper, Lu Shengjun, intern Kong Chunjuan, text/photo)