Guizhou's forests, wetlands, and grasslands serve as a crucial ecological shield for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, while also embodying the region's wisdom of harmonious coexistence with nature. The province is advancing high-quality forestry development through a "humanistic forestry" approach that integrates beautiful, ecological, law-based, wealth-creating, and safe forestry, giving cultural depth and livelihood warmth to conservation efforts. This series by the Guizhou Forestry Bureau and Rural Geography Magazine explores 16 articles across four themes—Roots, Protection, Benefits, and Integration—showcasing the green foundation and cultural soul of Guizhou's forestry. This tenth installment examines the fundamental property rights revolution in collective forest management.
Standing on the slopes of Rhinoceros Village, the forest stretches in dense layers across the hills. Yet, just a few years ago, few villagers could clearly say who owned which part of the woods. The issue of "three fir trees sparked years of disputes among brothers without resolution," recalled an elderly resident, shaking his head. In Rhinoceros Village, Changchunbao Town, Qixingguan District, Bijie City, unclear ownership and vague boundaries once led to conflicts as thick as mountain fog—no one could prove whether a tree belonged to you or your neighbor, or precisely where the forest boundary lay. Old forest tenure certificates often described boundaries with phrases like "east to the ditch, west to the mountain bend," but decades later, droughts dried up ditches, and mountain bends were converted to farmland, leaving no reliable markers. Arguments, cold wars, and years of silence became common in some villages. "Resolving forest tenure disputes back then was harder than weeding the fields," said Pan Dinghua, Deputy Director of the Qixingguan District Forestry Bureau, describing the challenges.
The turning point came with the launch of the reform to separate three types of rights for collective forest land. To untangle the knot, the first step was to clarify ownership. The reform path was clear: collective ownership of forest land, household contracting rights, and operational rights transferred to professional entities. But in practice for Rhinoceros Village, the word "clarify" behind a painstaking battle over property rights. The Qixingguan District Forestry Bureau formed a special task force, hiring professional surveying companies to deploy drones for aerial mapping. However, digital maps combined with national land survey data revealed that vague boundaries like "east to the ditch" could extend up to 10-20 meters of error on satellite imagery. "Aerial photography alone wasn't enough; ground verification was key." The task force brought in surviving elderly village cadres and party members, who accompanied surveyors into the mountains, pointing out old boundary lines along cow paths and overgrown trails, tree by tree, stake by stake. This blend of technology and oral tradition established a closed-loop process of survey, public announcement, review, and confirmation. Each completed plot was posted for seven days; if anyone disagreed, they could raise the issue immediately for review until consensus was reached. By 2025, Rhinoceros Village had completed boundary surveys for 231 forest plots covering 4,002.19 mu (about 266.8 hectares), signed 132 contracts, and finally resolved disputes for all 531 households.
With ownership clarified, the village moved to replace old certificates, cancel previous registrations, and issue new real estate certificates. This wasn't a simple exchange—each new certificate clearly stated collective ownership of the land, household contracting rights, and operational rights with details on transfers. After "dividing" the rights, the challenge of "uniting" emerged: over 4,000 mu of forest land were scattered among households, making coordinated management nearly impossible. The village adopted a "platform integration + scale operation" approach, establishing Bijie City's first village-level forest farm—Lingxi Forest Farm—with an innovative "profit-sharing without land-sharing" model. "Simply put, we collect the land at an assessed value of 400 yuan per mu (about $60/hectare) and centralize management under the forest farm, with profits shared," explained Pan Dinghua. For collective village forest land, the farm takes 70% and households 30%; for group-owned land, profits are divided equally per capita; for private land, all profits go to the household, with no management fees deducted. This approach proved highly effective. Previously, negotiating transfers door-to-door was tedious, but now the forest farm handled everything, completing the transfer of over 4,000 mu of forest land in just two days. In April 2025, an understory gastrodia elata planting enterprise successfully settled in, planting over 1,200 mu, yielding an output value of 18 million yuan. "We inspected several locations and found this forest not only convenient for transport but also perfectly suited for gastrodia in terms of climate and soil," said Xu Dejun, head of the Guizhou Liangdi Gastrodia Planting Company, noting that these once-disputed "sleeping" mountains had become fertile industrial land, bringing real income to villagers. "I never imagined I could earn a salary right at home," said villager Wang Qinghong, proudly gazing at the green hills. He reported that over 200 villagers now work at the forest farm, earning a stable monthly income of about 4,000 yuan.
Rhinoceros Village paved the way, and Qixingguan District deepened its collective forest rights reform. Shortly after the 2026 Spring Festival, the district forestry bureau held a new reform launch meeting in Xinglong Village, Sila Town, which faced significant ownership disputes and was considered a "hard nut to crack." The bureau, along with the district natural resources bureau and town government, worked together. Xinglong Village will follow the path of "unchanged contracting rights, unified operational rights," establishing a village-level forest farm after boundary surveys. Zhang Yicheng, Director of the district forestry bureau's industrial development center, stated: "Through pilot projects, we aim to establish 100 village-level forest farms within three years, transforming reform from a 'bonsai' into a 'landscape.'" The two major challenges of reform—ownership disputes and effective conversion of forest land into financing assets—were tackled by Rhinoceros Village through "centralized transfer of operational rights," promoting widespread understory planting. Meanwhile, Ceheng County in the Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture found another key through financial innovation.
In 2021, Ceheng County took the lead in the province by implementing a reform of separating three rights, centered on the Ecological Product Operational Rights Certificate. By securing collective ownership and stabilizing household contracting rights, the county fully liberalized operational rights, turning forest resources into transferable, mortgageable "living assets." He Linyong, a forest farmer from Tuanfeng Village, Bada Town, Ceheng County, spoke firsthand. During the first round of forest reforms in 2007, he contracted barren hills to plant trees, feeling energized by the forest tenure certificate. But he soon realized the long cultivation period—eucalyptus trees take at least 5-7 years to mature, costing 2,000 yuan per mu to plant. Expanding scale was impossible due to funding gaps, even with policy support. "Later, with the operational rights certificate and real estate certificate, the bank nodded, and I secured a loan of 2.5 million yuan," He Linyong said. "With these certificates, I have confidence in everything." In Ceheng, He Linyong is not alone. By the end of 2023, the county had issued 127 operational rights certificates covering 210,000 mu of forest land, leveraging nearly 200 million yuan in financial capital. The former embarrassment of "having resources but no access to financing" has dissipated with the implementation of these certificates, swept away by the mountain breeze.
From Rhinoceros Village in Bijie to Ceheng County in Qianxinan, the journey from chaotic forest rights to orderly governance, the peace of mind from a single property certificate, and the transformation from "visible but untouchable" forest land to stable dividends and bank credit for farmers—this property rights revolution for a forest is continuously unleashing new energy. Across the province, there are vivid examples of reform activating forest green energy: in Liping County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, implementing the separation of three rights based on a unified real estate registration system, by the end of May 2025, 3,395 forest-related real estate registrations had been completed, reducing registration fees for small businesses, cooperatives, and individual farmers, boosting market vitality. In Kaiyang County, Guiyang, reform experiments have established village-level cooperative forest farms, integrating scattered forest resources through models like "land transfer for storage, timber shareholding for dividends," using state-owned enterprise support and financial loans to bring forest management onto a large-scale, market-oriented track.
As collective forest rights reform measures deepen across Guizhou, the mountains remain the same, the trees remain the same, but with secured ownership, transfer channels, and financial backing, Guizhou's sleeping forests are transforming from "invisible green ledgers" into a "green bank" that enriches farmers' wallets and industrial vitality. As Zhang Yicheng, Director of the Qixingguan District Forestry Bureau's industrial development center, said: "People used to argue over the forests; now they prosper from them. Once this turn is made, the future will be all good days ahead."
Comments