Make the forests greener

Going up to the border, under the scorching summer sun, we can fully appreciate the value of the cool green forest canopy. In order to revive the hillsides that have been bare and rocky for many years, many localities in the mountainous areas of Thanh Hoa have been implementing many solutions to make the forests greener.

Trung Ly Border Guard Station (Muong Lat) guides people on methods of planting, caring for and protecting forests.

More than 10 years ago, anyone who had been to Muong Lat, surely the image of the bare hillsides and rocks was still imprinted in their minds. The hills of cogon grass and reeds grew together, just a small spark of fire could burn down a large hill. During the hot season, the rangers, local authorities and people had a hard time preventing and fighting forest fires... However, today, the bare hills of the past have been covered with endless green. The green forest has brought water to the fields, preventing drought for rice, crops and fruit trees. The people living on the hillsides are therefore somewhat reassured because they no longer have to worry about landslides, mountain slides...

More than ten years ago, 4 hectares of barren, wild hills, with wild trees growing all year round, were reclaimed and restored by Mr. Ha Van La's family in Ward 4, Muong Lat town, to grow perennial timber trees such as xoan, lat, and trầu. Under the forest canopy, they raised livestock and poultry. Mr. La said: When his family moved to the hills to reclaim the land to develop the economy, many people in the village did not believe in the success of the farm model on the barren land. However, family members always encouraged each other to stick with it until the end, to put in the effort to take care of crops and livestock... The land does not fail the people, up to now, the family's lat and xoan forests are growing very well, covered with a cool green color, with tree trunks as big as a person's embrace. Under the forest canopy, his family raises 40 buffaloes, cows and hundreds of poultry, bringing in an income of 350 to 400 million VND/year.

Comrade Ngan Trong Hiep, Chairman of Muong Lat Town People's Committee, said: Determining that forests play an important role in socio-economic development, in recent years, the locality has focused on implementing well the management, protection and development of forests. Every year, the town coordinates with local forest rangers to develop plans and implement forest fire prevention and fighting (PCCCR), patrolling and controlling forest products, and perfecting protection and PCCCR teams in villages and neighborhoods. In addition, the town also promotes propaganda and dissemination of laws on forest protection and development, payment for forest environmental services, and support policies for forest economic development... The above solutions have contributed to raising people's awareness and responsibility in forest protection and development... In 2 years (2023-2024), Muong Lat town has newly planted nearly 87 hectares of forest, including trees such as tung, teak, and bamboo shoots. In addition, the locality has protected and protected 1,674 hectares of forest...

Comrade Tran Van Thang, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Muong Lat district, said: Afforestation is one of the important tasks in the process of leading the socio-economic development of the locality, so in the past time, the district has directed specialized departments, units, and localities to urgently implement the plan to plant new forests. In 2024 alone, the district plans to plant 400 hectares of forest, including 295 hectares of production forest and 105 hectares of protection forest. Up to now, the whole district has planted nearly 300 hectares of production forest and nearly 100 hectares of protection forest; striving to complete the 2024 forest planting plan by October 2024.

In the border district of Quan Son, along with solutions for afforestation and forest development associated with support policies, allocating forest land to people for cultivation, planting trees such as bamboo, rattan, acacia, etc., the forest rangers have done a good job of propaganda and mobilizing people to improve their responsibility in managing, protecting and developing forests. The forest rangers also advised the Party Committees and People's Committees of communes and towns to review key areas of forest security; develop and implement protection and forest fire prevention plans according to the "4 on-site" motto; coordinate with localities to perform the function of State management of forests and forestry land; organize households to sign commitments to protect forests and forest fire prevention and control; strengthen inspection, control and strictly handle violators of forestry laws, etc. Through research, Quan Son district has 85,918.94 hectares of forest and forestry land. Of which, the area with natural forest is 71,099.50ha, planted forest is 11,596.49ha, planted forest is not yet a forest 3,222.95ha...

Discussing the work of forest protection and development, comrade Nguyen Van Sinh, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quan Son district, said: In recent times, the Party Committees and authorities in the district have promoted propaganda work to raise awareness of all classes of people about the importance of forests for social life; along with that, mobilizing all resources to participate in forest management, protection and development. The district also builds programs, plans and schemes on sustainable forest protection and development associated with forest product processing... From the above solutions, up to now, the forest coverage of Quan Son district has reached over 89%, the highest in Thanh Hoa province.

According to statistics, from 2017 to present, localities in our province have planted 64,723 hectares of concentrated forests and more than 19 million scattered trees of all kinds. Every year, localities have also planted 3,500 hectares of large timber forests, converting small timber forests to large timber business of more than 700 hectares. Along with that, attention is paid to exploiting and using planted forests effectively, associated with forest protection work... Up to now, the forest coverage rate of the province has reached nearly 54%; forest fires have decreased year by year; there have been no hot spots or prominent incidents of deforestation, forest exploitation, illegal transportation and trading of forest products; natural forests are strictly protected, forest security is maintained stably... contributing to making the forests greener.

Article and photos: Xuan Minh

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/cho-nhung-canh-rung-them-xanh-224015.htm