Many rivers and streams have run dry due to the long dry spells and the overexploitation of underground water has exacerbated the deterioration of the ecological environment in Dunhuang, Gansu Province. At present, the area of natural forests stands at 1.3 million mu (86,666 hectares), decreasing by 40 percent compared with that in the 1950s; the area of diversiform-leaved poplar stands at 140,000 mu (9,333 hectares), decreased by 67 percent compared with that in the 1950s. In this picture, one worker processes the dry diversiform-leaved poplar wood into works of art.