Drobu Jie, a forest ranger who has watching over the woods in Nyingchi area for 31 years, talks about his job with CRI reporters outside his duty room in Tibet Autonomous Region, July 4, 2010. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

Drobu Jie is one of the two original forest rangers in a town in the Nyingchi area, located in the east of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Watching over local forests since 1979, Drobu Jie said the monkeys living on the hill is now a new 'headache' for him, as the number of rhesus monkeys has been increasing rapidly since 2003 when the precious animal was first found in Gongbujiada county.

Usually the primate group will find their own way to the ranger's duty room for food every day. However, once they encounter the wild dogs and get frightened, they will hide for several days, which forces the 62-year-old forest ranger to search for them through the woods covering an area of several hundred mu (15mu =1 hectare).

"Taking care of these monkeys has been a new priority of my job," Drobu Jie told CRI reporters, "Sometimes I had to spend the whole day searching for them three or four times."

Baizhen, deputy director of the county's forestry bureau, said there were less than forty monkeys seven years ago, but now thousands of rhesus monkeys inhabit the mountainous area.

Actually, 163 mu of the monkeys' current habitat was once farmland owned by locals, who turned their land into forests so the monkeys and other animals could have a better environment for proliferation, according to Baizhen.

Although attending to the forest creatures has made Drobu Jie tired, he appeared glad to talk about them and seemed to enjoy the days with the monkeys. But his job was completely different before 2003.

As Nyingchi is well-known for its abundant forestry resources, many locals ignored related regulations and wantonly cut the trees to make money. Drobu Jie had to take every effort to stop such behavior, which brought him some trouble.

In the 1990's, he confiscated some wood from his relatives, and was hence seen as their enemy. Drobu Jie said the hatred between him and his once-close relatives lingers today as result of his job.

Besides local residents, someone from the neighboring province such as Sichuan, also coveted the wood and stole trees from time to time. Dealing with these people even threatened the safety of Drobu Jie and the other forest rangers.

Baizhen, who usually visits the forests under her management for more than 300 days a year, said even the forestry officials would frequently receive threats from the thieves.

 Baizhen, deputy director of the forestry bureau of Gongbujiada county, Tibet Autonomous Region, tells CRI reporters their efforts in forest protection at her office, July 4, 2010. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

She recalled that several years ago when they seized a batch of illegally-cut wood at a checkpoint, the law breakers vowed to take revenge on them, and threatened that they "will pick up the children for you" as they know where the children studied.

Regarding the job's high risk, Baizhen said the county buys personal insurance for all 873 forest rangers in Gongbujiada County.

In fact, not only the rangers are involved in protecting the forest. Each and every resident in Gongbujiada is supposed to keep an eye on the surrounding trees which cover an area of 369,600 hectares.

Starting in 2007, the county has prohibited any form of deforestation, which severed the source of income of some people, and brought inconveniences to residences once allowed to cut wood to keep themselves warm.

However, Baizhen said a certain sum of money has since been extended to each family as an energy subsidy, to encourage forest protection. Now each family can receive 114 yuan (16.81 US dollars) per month from the government.

"We inherit the mountains and trees from our ancestors," Baizhen said, "If we only employed a few forest rangers and gave them high salaries, it would not be enough. Everyone's participation is necessary."

Besides protection efforts, the county also aims to add more trees to its territory. In the past several years, it has seen an increase of 44,000 mu forest on the land which lies at more than 3,400 meters above sea level.

The rigorous control over exploiting natural resources has brought substantial benefits to Gongbujiada and its people.

"In the past when the county suffered from the excessive cutting of trees, the forestry officials were not welcomed when we visited the forest area. People knew that our appearance indicated that their penalty was coming," Baizhen recalled, "But now things have been totally different. It is us who are giving people money and creating opportunities to make money."

Although the "no deforestation order" has saved the local environment, it was a fatal blow to local revenues since forestry was once a pillar industry for Gongbujiada and the whole Nyingchi area. Fortunately, local tourism has been booming since the Qinghai-Tibet Railway opened in July 2006, and is a rising industry of the remote place which is 450 kilometers away from Lhasa, capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region.

Figures from the county's tourism bureau showed that it earned 30 million yuan (almost 4.5 million US dollars) from tourism in 2006 and the annual income doubled the next year. In the first half of this year, tourism revenue has hit 58 million yuan (8.5 million US dollars).

Baizhen said they are applying for more country-level natural reserve areas. She believed more people will choose to travel in her county to experience the untouched forests. 

 Baizhen, deputy director of the forestry bureau of Gongbujiada county, Tibet Autonomous Region, tells CRI reporters their efforts in forest protection at her office, July 4, 2010. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

One part of the forest under Drobu Jie's care. Photo taken on July 4, 2010 at the Gongbujiada county, Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]