Tree stumps could be seen almost everywhere on the mountain, their presence highlighted by a few unaffected trees scattered here and there.

That is how Liu Zhilong remembers his hometown in Beishan, a forested area in Huzhu Tu autonomous county, Qinghai province.

When he was 19, Liu became a logger, felling trees for a living. Though they didn't have chainsaws, it wasn't uncommon for local loggers to fell 10 or even 20 trees a day, he said.

Now, rather than chopping down trees, the 48-year-old is a forest ranger, working hard to eliminate any hazards that may damage the woodland.

"Now, if you want to find a stump, it's not so easy," he said with a smile as he stood in the shadow of the trees he protects.

Zhao Changhong, head of Beishan's management office, said the changes are the result of a forest conservation project launched across the area in 1998. Before, 40 to 50 percent of local residents were engaged in felling trees, and although it takes 80 to 120 years for trees to mature in the area, loggers would often chop them down after just a few decades.

Liu is one of 610 rangers responsible for safeguarding Beishan's forest. The team includes ex-loggers and members of formerly poverty-stricken families, Zhao said, adding that a full-time ranger can make about 2,500 yuan ($390) a month.

Years of efforts to conserve the 1,127-hectare woodland have paid off. Beishan's forestation level stands at almost 79 percent, compared with 62.6 percent just 20 years ago.

If logging had continued on its previous scale, the forest would have already disappeared, Zhao said.

The increasingly robust ecosystem is encouraging more and more species to return and make homes in the area.

For example, in November, an infrared camera captured a family of three snow leopards, a species covered by China's highest national level of protection and listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The leopards mainly inhabit the mountainous areas of Central Asia, living between altitudes of 2,500 to 4,500 meters. Some locals had heard of the animal they called the "big cat" but had never before found signs that they lived in the area, Zhao said.

"Beishan is just a microcosm of the efforts to promote ecological civilization in Qinghai," Zhao said with a smile.

"Ecological civilization" is a concept promoted by China that advocates balanced and sustainable development, featuring the harmonious coexistence of mankind and nature.