Lesson 1: Bamboo shoot season - the season of... deforestation

(Baonghean) -Pu Mat National Park has over 94,000 hectares, spread over 3 mountainous districts of Anh Son, Con Cuong, Tuong Duong with many rare forest products. However, these rare resources are always in a state of encroachment. At this time, the exploitation and processing of dried bamboo shoots by hundreds of local people is taking place loudly and openly in the core area of ​​Pu Mat National Park...

The village is deserted, the forest is bustling.

As foresters, we had no trouble asking about the busiest bamboo shoot exploitation area in Pu Mat National Park. An old man living in Cang village, Mon Son commune (Con Cuong) said that although it was the end of the season, people were still exploiting bamboo shoots in the upper reaches of Khe Khang (Giang river) and the upper reaches of Khe Yen (in Yen village - Mon Son commune - Con Cuong).

Visiting Yen village, Mon Son commune on the morning of September 25, we were surprised by the "desolate" scene in the village. Occasionally, a few old people from the stilt houses glanced at us with inquisitive intentions, and a group of children wandered along the road, the younger ones were leaning their heads on the backs of their sisters or grandmothers. It is known that the village has nearly 170 households, but it turns out that more than half of the households have gone deep into the forest to pick bamboo shoots. "There are only old people and children left in our village, the healthy people have all gone to the forest" - an old man said. We stopped at a small shop right in the middle of the village, asking for directions to the "capital" of dried bamboo shoots, the shop owner was very enthusiastic in showing us the way, but when we kindly wanted to borrow a guide, she said that since early morning everyone had gone into the forest, at this hour every house was deserted so it was difficult to meet our request. She also proudly added that her village is considered a “leading” locality in the bamboo shoot picking and processing industry. If calculated by population, there are probably more than 300 people “working” in the forest at present.

It took us more than 3 hours of climbing uphill, wading through streams and swimming through streams that were over our heads to reach the first bamboo shoot harvesters' camps. That was the camp of Ms. Lang Thi Hong, a native of Yen village. She, her husband and a few other villagers stayed in this camp for about a week to harvest bamboo shoots. Ms. Hong's group was luckier because they were able to use a guard hut as a camp, and outside the camp there was an open space for drying bamboo shoots. The rest had to cut down trees and set up camp in the middle of the forest. According to Ms. Hong, some people only harvest in the forest areas that have been assigned to each household, but most still go to old forests with tall bamboo trees and large, thick bamboo shoots that sell for a higher price than bamboo shoots growing in young forests. Bamboo shoot harvesters are not only from Yen village but also from other communes such as Luc Da, Yen Khe, and even Anh Son... "It's still very crowded inside there," said a forest worker named Thinh, about 40 years old, also from Yen village. During the bamboo shoot season, people flock to the forest like a festival. There are even makeshift shops in the forest with all kinds of goods: rice, salt, food, wine... to serve the needs of long-term bamboo shoot harvesters.

Bamboo shoot boiling process

It was exactly as Mr. Thinh said. Going deeper, we came across more groups of tents set up, the atmosphere was more bustling with smoky stoves. We entered the tent of brothers Vi Van Thin and Vi Van Duan, staying in Mon village (Mon Son commune) hidden deep under the forest canopy, right next to the edge of the stream. The two brothers Thin were diligently processing bamboo shoots: one was stirring firewood, one was poking holes for the bamboo shoots, one was boiling them, one was drying the bamboo shoots after boiling... quickly and skillfully. The tents were built with a few poles, the roof was made of makeshift palm leaves. In each tent, there was a bamboo shoot boiling stove, a military pot, a rice cooker, a knife and cutting board, and a bamboo shoot drying stove, along with a simple bench to lie down. Around the tents were piles of fresh firewood, ready to be put into the bamboo shoot drying oven. Talking, Mr. Thin said innocently: His group of bamboo shoot pickers had been in this forest for more than a week. When rice, salt, lamp oil, and food run out, send one person back to the village to buy some and then immediately return to the forest.

... and transport bamboo shoots by raft to the village.

Going up Yen stream, going about 1km deeper into Ang waterfall, we counted more than a dozen groups of tents. Each group had about 3 or 4 tents. The tents were crowded, but there seemed to be few people. We waited for a while and saw people carrying bamboo shoots from the deep forest. Some people were carrying dried bamboo shoots to prepare to make bamboo rafts and go downstream Yen stream to the village. A woman named Hong said: There are still many people and tents inside. Not only are tents set up along the stream, but people also set up tents halfway up the mountain. Wherever there are many bamboo shoots, there are tents.

Consequences from... bamboo shoots

According to Mr. Vi Van Thin, because of the difficult life, every year the Thin brothers come here to get bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoot season lasts for 3 months, from the beginning of July to the end of September. This is the beginning of the rainy season, bamboo shoots grow a lot and thickly. In this core area, bamboo shoots are countless. To make dried bamboo shoots, only bamboo shoots are delicious. The secret to picking quality bamboo shoots is to cut and peel off the skin on the spot when the bamboo shoots grow 60 - 80 cm, then bring them back to the shack to clean them again. Before putting them in the pot to boil, poke a hole in the middle of the bamboo shoot so that the water can quickly cook them and the bamboo shoots will not turn red. Boiling time is from 30 minutes to 1 hour. When the bamboo shoots are cooked, pour them out and use a knife to split one side of the bamboo shoot, then put them out to dry in the sun. If the sun is strong, dry them for 2 days. In case of weak sunlight or rain, the bamboo shoots must be spread on a mat, placed about 1 meter high, and burned with firewood overnight to dry. To make the firewood burn longer and not be burned by the fire, it is best to use fresh firewood. And it is better to use hard wood so that the charcoal burns well. In the role of a person buying dried bamboo shoots, I asked that the bamboo shoots have a nice yellow color. Thin said, it is easy. If you want the bamboo shoots to have a nice yellow color, boil them in a lot of water and when the water boils, add the bamboo shoots, but do not use any chemicals. We heard that many places use chemicals to treat bamboo shoots, but absolutely not here.

Each kilo of dried bamboo shoots is currently sold for 75,000 VND. The Thin brothers make at least 3 kg of dried bamboo shoots every day, equivalent to 30-40 kg of fresh bamboo shoots. Thus, to pick that much fresh bamboo shoots, hundreds of other forest trees must be "cleared" every day by the Thin brothers, not to mention that to get firewood to burn the bamboo shoots, many more trees must be added. We looked under the drying stove, there were still fresh logs with a diameter of 40-50 cm glowing red with charcoal. "Did you guys go into the core area to pick bamboo shoots without being caught by the forest rangers?" we asked. Thin answered: Yes, because this is a forbidden forest. But when the forest rangers discovered it, I "asked" to work for a few days. Picking bamboo shoots is the livelihood of the local people. "Have the forest rangers ever burned down our huts?" "No, because the forest rangers don't burn down the huts we live in all the time. If they find out that there are no people living there, they will burn them down."

The activities of picking and processing dried bamboo shoots along with logging have devastated this forbidden forest. Because according to the analysis of the people, to get 1 bamboo shoot, the bamboo pickers have to cut down many trees in the surrounding forest. And more dangerously, to dry the bamboo shoots, people cut down trees with a diameter of 20 cm or more to burn for drying. It is calculated that each group uses 2-3 m3 of wood to dry bamboo shoots in a 3-day trip to the forest, so each bamboo shoot season, this "bamboo shoot street" burns up to thousands of m3 of young wood. And every year, when the bamboo shoot season comes, people flock to the forest to exploit, which means that the forest trees continue to be cut down indiscriminately.

Bamboo shoots are dried in huts built in the forest.

Along with the hustle and bustle of picking bamboo shoots and cutting down trees, to improve their meals, people who live long-term during the bamboo shoot season also earn extra income by hunting wild animals and fishing in streams. All of the above activities are prohibited in the core zone. Not to mention that forest fires are an obvious danger that can be seen with red fires and smoky camps. A bamboo shoot harvester near the foot of Khe Ang waterfall, the source of Khe Yen, said that he was sometimes caught by the forest rangers while lighting a fire to cook bamboo shoots in his camp, but they only reminded them and asked them to leave the forest, and almost no cases were handled. For many reasons, including "compassion" for the difficult lives of people in neighboring villages, this force is somewhat lenient with illegal forest exploitation activities.

Mr. Dang Dinh Xuan - Head of the Forest Protection Department of Pu Mat National Park, said: For Pu Mat National Park, all human exploitation of forest products is strictly prohibited. If any people are found entering the core area and causing forest encroachment, they will be dealt with. However, due to the large area and small forest protection force, strict control is sometimes not possible, especially for people picking bamboo shoots when the bamboo shoot season comes. Knowing that the consequences of bamboo shoot exploitation are deforestation and causing forest fires... but it seems very difficult to prohibit.
(To be continued)

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