The study looked at how dry or wet conditions changed in a hilly area in northern Shaanxi from 1981 to 2012. They found that the region got slightly drier over time. However, when vegetation was restored through a program called Grain-for-Green, the drying trend slowed down. In areas where vegetation improved more, the drying trend decreased even more. The researchers discovered that as vegetation coverage increased, the dryness decreased. This was likely because the plants helped reduce wind speed, which can dry out the land. Overall, the region became drier over the years, but planting more vegetation helped slow down this process.