Zhou Yizhe, a forest ranger and an NPC deputy, patrols the Greater Hinggan Mountains in Inner Mongolia. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Greater Hinggan Mountains – a shield for the country's ecological security – is these days widely said to be becoming increasingly greener, adhering to China's national environmental development concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.”

The glorious mountain range in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region lies in the most well-preserved and largest State-owned forestry zone in the country, covering an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers.

Since 2015, its rangers and other staff have resolutely implemented the national policy of completely stopping the commercial logging of natural forests, having radically changed the development mode and meticulously planned out an eco-friendly future.

Zhou Yizhe, who was formerly a logger working there for 35 five years, hasn't looked back since he became a forest ranger in 2018.

At first, Zhou and his co-workers had nagging doubts that in putting down the axe and picking up the shovel and pick, they could make sufficient money by planting trees.

But in recent years, everyone's income has increased instead of falling. It was also in 2018 that Zhou was elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress.

In 2021, Zhou submitted two NPC motions on building more firebreaks and roads within the forestry zone, while also improving the mobile network coverage there.

After the motions were put forward, they immediately caught the attention of the country and received a raft of replies.

By the end of 2021, nearly 10 percent of the deepest part of the forestry zone had network coverage.

This spring, in a first, Peng Chengliang and his wife – caretakers of the forestry zone's Beian Forest Farm – watched the live broadcast of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the forest management station.

To top it off, the former residences of the forest farm workers were turned into homestays, with the even and accessible roads there paving the way for thriving tourism at the forest farm.

Walking in the woods, people can often see wild animals such as roe deer and brown bears. They shoot videos with their mobile phones and share the images on WeChat moments, which often makes them very proud.