Abstract: LI Genyuan attached great importance to forestry when he was the governor of Shaanxi Province in 1917. He proposed a series of ideas and implemented many measures such as disseminating comprehensive benefits of forest, protecting forests and trees, advocating afforestation, developing regional forestry economy and forestry education, improving forestry production conditions, and so on, to develop forestry of Shaanxi and improve the bad ecological environment. Though these measures terminated three months later because of the thwarting by warlords, LI Genyuan's forestry thoughts and measures played an active role in reversing the trend of ecological deterioration and changing the social and economic depression situation in this region, and showed advanced ecological consciousness and forestry awareness, conforming to the trend of history. They can still offer us some enlightenment on forestry and ecological construction nowadays.