Protected red pine making comeback

Thanks to multiple measures, such as bans on cutting and increased public awareness, the red pine, a protected species, has recovered a little in Yichun, Heilongjiang province, after decades of deforestation.

Yichun is home to vast natural forests. More than 84 percent of the area within its boundaries is forested today, and the number is growing.

More than 60 percent of the world's natural red pines were scattered through northeastern China - half of that in the Lesser Khingan Mountains, where Yichun is situated - in the first years of the 20th century. The trees are under national protection, but they were cut for six decades, mainly for construction.