也许是厌烦了城市的燥热，也许是向往旷野的绿色，2024年夏天的内蒙古格外热闹。7月20日至27日，8位志愿者携手百万植树计划项目团队来到内蒙古通辽市科尔沁左翼后旗，开展为期一周的林地生态调查。尽管烈日当头、暴雨倾盆，志愿者们的热情依旧不减，在短短数天内共调查7块林地，50个样点，观察、学习并记录到植物45种，共14398株。
Some people may be tired of the heat of the city, and some are yearning for the green of the wilderness. A variety of reasons brought them together for a few days in Inner Mongolia during summertime. From July 20th to 27th, eight volunteers and the Million Tree Project team went to Horqin Zuoyi Houqi in Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia to carry out a week-long forest ecological survey. Despite the scorching sun and torrential rain, the volunteers stayed enthusiastic about the field work, visting 7 forests and 50 sample sites all together, and observing, learning and recording a total of 14,398 plants of 45 species.
林地中走访调查的志愿者 郭珈源摄
The volunteers in forest, Photo by Jiayuan GUO
来不及欣赏沿途的美景、来不及打扫鞋内的沙土，志愿者们就又得趴在一米见方的样方上认草、数草，而这就是生态调查最真实的场景。实践出真知，正是在这样的艰苦工作中，林地的生长状况及生态效益才得以全面地展现出来。志愿者们也在这个过程中认识到各种独特的植物：令人望而生畏的糙隐子草，令人惊艳不已的花棒，还有无处不在的少花蒺藜草……
The volunteers quickly squated on a sample of one meter square to identify and count the plants as soon as they found the sample site, without taking any break to appreciate the surrounding views or cleaning the sands in the shoes. This is the most common scene of ecological survey. It is in this kind of hard work that the growth status and ecological benefits of the forest can be fully demonstrated. Along the way, the volunteers also learned about a variety of unique plants: the formidable Cryptophyllum coarse, the beautiful Corethrodendron scoparium, and the ubiquitous Cenchrus spinifex Cav.......
志愿者在样方中认真“数草” 王凯摄
Volunteers were counting every plant in the sample site, Photo by Kai Wang
志愿者与自己采集到的植物合影 郭珈源摄
The volunteers with the plant specimen they collected, Photo by Jiayuan Guo
除了林地生态调查之外，植被盖度测量、沙漠化拼图工作坊、生物多样性工作坊等丰富多样的活动让志愿者们此行收获满满。
In addition to the forest ecological survey, the volunteers also participated all kinds of activities such as vegetation coverage measurement, desertification workshop, and biodiversity workshop.
调查的最后一天，志愿者穿上了上海根与芽25周年纪念T恤。象征着与地球和谐共生的绿色T恤与林地的植被融为一体，志愿者的汗水和绿色的希望在此刻一同被播种在这片土地之上。
On the last day of the survey, volunteers put on the 25th anniversary T-shirts of Shanghai Roots & Shoots. The green T-shirt, which symbolizes harmony with the earth, blended with the vegetation of the forest, and the sweat of the volunteers and the hope of the green were sown on the land at this moment.
在林地中工作的志愿者 郭珈源摄
The volunteers were working on the forest site, Photo by Jiayuan Guo
内蒙古林地生态调查志愿者合影 刘苋摄
Group photo of the ecological survey volunteers, Photo by Xian Liu