According to two vegetation cover maps of Shaanxi respectively released in 2000 and 2009 by the Forestry Department of Shaanxi, the Sanqin Region has made major progress in afforestation as the map of 2009 showed that the whole Shaanxi was basically covered by vegetation compared with that in 2000, when the north Shaanxi was infertile. It means that the afforestation area of Shaanxi was pushed northward with 400km.

The two maps showed that the sandstorm-stricken area along the Great Wall had become greenish yellow from yellow in 2000, part of the area even become light green. So have the Loess Plateau and Weibei Dry Plateau. Particularly, the vegetation coverage of the counties and districts in north Yan'an reached the intermediate level and that of part areas reached the high level. The Qinba Region became dark green.

With the help of the satellite remote sensing technique, in 2009, the vegetation coverage of the whole province rose by 68.9% from 56.9 % in 2000, and that of the sandstorm-stricken area along the Great Wall rose by 20% - 30% compared with 10% or less in 2000. The vegetation coverage of the Loess Plateau and Weibei Dry Plateau rose by 30% -60% compared with 10%-30% in 2000. The green scope of the Huangqiao forest region in Yan¡¯an, praised as "the lung of Shaanxi", was expanded. And the area with the vegetation coverage over 60%, increased remarkably.

Since 2000, in order to control wind-blown sand and protect our environment, a series of major projects and policies were launched, such as the project on returning land for farming to forestry, natural forest protection, and the "Three North" Shelterbelt Development Program. Up to now, the accumulated investment by the state and local governments has reached 21.886 billion yuan to accomplish the afforestation area of 68.345 million mu, the forest area reached more than 1.15 billion mu compared with 95.52 million mu in 1999, with the forest coverage up by 6.34 percent from 30.92% in 1999. The ecological environment of Shaanxi has improved a lot, especially in the Shanbei Region. The Natural Forest Protection Program was located in five forest regions of Hulong Mountain, Qiao Mountain, Qinling Mountains and Ba Mountain. Most part of the light green area in the map of 2000 has become dark green in 2009, which showed that the scope of high-level vegetation coverage has been remarkably expanded.

In recent 10 years, Shaanxi vigorously promoted the project on wind-blown sand control and afforestation. Now, the accumulated area of afforestation reached 18.69million mu, the area of the fixed quicksand reached 7million mu, and the vegetation coverage in sandstorm-stricken areas reached 33.5%. Four forest-belts for the wind-blown sand control, with the total length of 1,500 km and the total area of 1.755million mu, have been established respectively along the Great Wall, the boundary between Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, the north of Baiyu Mountain and Lingyu Road. Meanwhile, the underway construction of the "Three North" Shelterbelt realized the historic transformation.