Protecting protective forest resources associated with improving the quality of planted forests

Welcoming us in an excited mood, Mr. Lang Huu Phuoc - owner of a forest farm in Yen Nhan commune (Thuong Xuan), enthusiastically shared: assigned by the State to implement a forest protection contract (BVR) with an area of 19.47 hectares of protective forest, from 2019 to now, his family has planted and cared for 7 hectares of acacia forest, including 4.5 hectares of hybrid acacia. Officers and workers of the Thuong Xuan Protective Forest Management Board (forest owner) organized and guided planting, care and BVR techniques. The family, together with the forces of the Thuong Xuan Protective Forest Management Board and the village management board, and local authorities, organized forest patrols, promptly detected, prevented and handled violations of forestry laws. The forest assigned to the household to manage has always developed, without illegal exploitation or forest fires.

Protecting protective forest resources associated with improving the quality of planted forests Workers of Thuong Xuan Protective Forest Management Board clear vegetation for PCCCR.

Join us to visit large timber plantations in communes in the area such as Luong Son, Ngoc Phung... Director of Thuong Xuan Protective Forest Management Board Le The Su shared: By May 2024, we will manage, protect and use 13,214.14 hectares of forest, mainly protective forests, in 9 communes of Thuong Xuan district. During the hot season, the Management Board has proactively coordinated with authorities at all levels and relevant units in the area to proactively propagate policies and laws on forest protection and fire prevention and fighting (PCCCR) to the people; inspect key forests, control fire sources brought into the forest. Implementing the "4 on-site" motto well, the unit has purchased additional tools for PCCCR work; assigned 24/24-hour duty to strengthen PCCCR work; cleared and reduced combustible materials under the forest canopy, renewed firebreaks, and burned combustible materials in advance for PCCCR. Strengthen inspection, supervision and strict handling of violators of the Forestry Law.

To safely protect the assigned forest area, improve the efficiency of exploitation, sustainable use of land resources, forest resources and existing facilities and techniques; form concentrated, intensive production forest planting areas, large-scale commercial forest products, link forest planting with processing and forest product consumption markets, improve production efficiency, forest use, create more jobs, increase income for forest workers, protect the ecological environment, contribute to hunger eradication and poverty reduction. The focus is on planting forests with high-quality forestry trees, tissue-cultured trees to increase income value for forest owners, the Management Board has proactively completed the development of plans, established land use planning maps associated with planning of 3 types of forests, creating favorable conditions for economic sectors to mobilize all resources to protect and develop forests.

From 2007 to May 2024, the Thuong Xuan Protective Forest Management Board provided technical guidance; provided seedlings; organized households to contract forestry land to plant new and replant exploited forests according to regulations, more than 2,000 hectares of production forest. The new feature is that from 2021 to May 2024, the Management Board has propagated and mobilized households to contract to plant 230 hectares of tissue-cultured acacia trees. Propagating so that people in the area understand the outstanding advantages of tissue-cultured trees, mobilizing forest owners to overcome difficulties and invest in expanding the area of new forest planting and replanting after exploitation with tissue-cultured trees to improve the quality of planted forests and increase income for forest owners. In general, the entire area of forest planted with tissue-cultured trees is being cared for, protected, and growing well.

Thuong Xuan Protective Forest Management Board has developed and implemented the Project "Application of science and technology to build a model for planting, processing and consuming some medicinal herbs such as Cat Sam and Dioscorea in the mountainous areas of Thanh Hoa province". The implementation period is from September 2020 to December 2024. The goal of the project is to change the structure of low-value crops to high-value crops, create more jobs, improve people's lives, and contribute to the sustainable protection of upstream protective forests. By May 2024, households participating in the project had planted 13 hectares of Dioscorea and 30 hectares of Cat Sam. In 2023, 22 tons of dried Dioscorea were harvested, with a profit after costs of 100 million VND/ha/year. Cat Sam has a planting cycle of 5 to 6 years, and its current estimated income is 5 to 8 times that of Acacia.

The outstanding results in recent years and the first 4 months of 2024 are that the entire existing forest area has been safely protected, with no forest fires. Forest security has been maintained, with forest coverage managed by the Thuong Xuan Protective Forest Management Board reaching over 90%. The area of depleted natural forests has been restored and is developing stably.

Article and photos: Thu Hoa

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