On a paddy field by the Myanmar border in Tengchong County, about a dozen white herons catch worms as farmers work their ploughs under a blue sky and the gaze of green mountains.

"You can only see this kind of bird in the fields if the local ecology and environment is very good," said Zhou Guokuai, vice director of the press office of Tengchong in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

A drought has ravaged Yunnan since last autumn, leaving 8.89 million facing drinking water shortages in Yunnan alone. Some 98,600 of them, along with 13,150 head of livestock, are in Tengchong County.

"Still, the drought's effect has been less here than in other regions because we have thick forest coverage here in Tengchong. That forest coverage helps preserve the water," said Zhou Guokuai.

About 71 percent of the county's land, 5,845 square kilometers in size, is covered by forest, said Fan Renjie, the chief of Tengchong's forestry bureau, while the national forest coverage ratio is 20.36 percent. In the Dahe Forest Farm, the crisp sound of water bubbling down a ravine stream is pleasing to the ears.

"The water never dries up at any time. The drought has had a limited impact on the water flow," said Gong Chengchao, the Communist Party branch secretary of the state-owned forest farm.

Fan Renji told Xinhua reporters at the scene the water is clean and directly drinkable with a scoop of the hands.

The water in the stream joins with several others and flows down the valleys and converges into a medium-sized reservoir in the lower reaches.

"The water stored so far is 31.5 million cubic meters. It's just a little less than that in normal years. Total capacity of the reservoir is 35 million cubic meters," said Fan Renjie.

He said the thick forest, especially the water-trapping broad-leaved trees, plays a crucial role in keeping the water flowing as the severe drought strikes the region.

The reservoir supplies more than 50,000 in the nearby towns of Mazhan, Gudong, and Qushi with clean drinking water. It also supplies irrigation water for over 100,000 mu (6,667 hectares) of farmland.

According to figures provided by the local forestry bureau, the county has expanded its forest by 491,000 mu since 2000 while converting another 114,000 mu of farmland into forest.

"This is in line with Tengchong's development strategy which is based on good ecology," Fan said.

Top leader of the county, Secretary of the CPC Tengchong County Committee Yu Bingwu, said the government is encouraging local residents to grow the "Three Trees" -- walnut, camellia, and ginkgo -- for both environmental and economic benefits.

Tengchong hopes to have 2.1 million mu of forest growing these trees by 2012, which by 2020 will generate over half of the local farmers' per capita disposable income.

Since last October, Wangjiaba Village, Mazhan Township, has grown walnut and camellia trees on over 1,000 mu of dry land relying on the rainfall for farm crops to grow.

In Daqigou Village, Tengyue Township, about 20 kilometers from Wangjiaba, two aged women keep watch at a small temple enshrining two local gods. They say the creek in front of the temple dried up 7 years ago.

"Years ago, little children used to play in the creek. Legend also has it that big elephants used to have baths here," said 79-year-old Chen Xueying.

"The problem lies in the needle-leaved forest here, where it's mostly China-fir, a native tree that grows fast and produce economic benefits but doesn't conserve much water," said Yang Zhengbao, the director of the Tengyue Forest Station.

"When you cut into the trunk of the tree, you can see it's pretty dry," said Fan Renjie.

Fan said the county government plans to fell the trees and grow the broad-leaved trees that better keep water.

The push for ecological protection was also evident at a Tengchong hotel's bathroom. A notice card reads: "To reduce pollution by washing, put only the towels you used in the sink for cleaning the next day."

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2010)