In early March 2024, the Nghe An Newspaper delegation was introduced to visit Dien Lam before working with the Quy Chau District Party Committee. Visiting Dien Lam, as the staff of the District Party Committee's Propaganda Department explained: "This is one of the most remote and disadvantaged areas of the district, but it has many beautiful natural landscapes and has had some good models such as forest protection, conservation of some specialty fish species...".
Dien Lam is one of the last lands of Quy Chau district, bordering Quy Hop, Con Cuong, and Tuong Duong districts. The way to Dien Lam, you can follow National Highway 48A to Tan Lac town, from here turn onto Provincial Road 544 through Chau Hanh commune, up Bu Sen peak, through Chau Phong commune. Or also follow National Highway 48A, but at Sang Le intersection, turn onto National Highway 48D, then go through Tam Hop, Tho Hop, Quy Hop town, Chau Quang, Chau Cuong, Chau Thanh (Quy Hop) to Chau Phong commune and then up to Dien Lam. Choosing the second route, from Vinh city departing at 6am, after nearly 4 hours by car, we arrived at Dien Lam.
First impression, Dien Lam is an extremely peaceful green space. In the cool March weather, the gardens in the villages, the terraced rice fields, the dense natural forests with layers of trees on almost all the hills surrounding the village..., create a diverse green complex. So green that visitors from Vinh city cannot help but admire, feeling a peaceful and relaxing living space completely opposite to the crowded and stuffy urban area...
Seeing the guests' admiration, the cadres of Dien Lam commune excitedly summarized: Dien Lam is surrounded by mountains and forests on all sides. In the South, there is the Pu Huong range with a peak of 1,161m originating from the Vietnam - Laos border, forming the boundary between Quy Chau district and the two districts of Con Cuong and Tuong Duong. In the East, there is the Pu Co range with a peak of 1,124m, forming the boundary between Dien Lam and the two communes of Chau Cuong and Chau Thanh (Quy Hop). In the Northwest, there is the Pu Hoc range with the Chom Hen peak 485m high, forming the boundary between Dien Lam and the two communes of Chau Hoan and Chau Phong. The residential villages of Dien Lam are distributed in the valleys at the foot of the mountain ranges, under the roofs of primeval natural forests with an area of over 13,000 hectares managed by the Pu Huong Nature Reserve, the Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board and the Commune People's Committee. Dien Lam has many streams, because the primeval natural forest is preserved and protected, so it retains its fresh water source. Among them, Cuom stream has the largest water source, flowing through many villages, irrigating most of the fields...
And to give the group a real look, after a brief ten minutes, the Dien Lam officers took them to visit the natural forest protected by the Ban Hoc community. With an area of over 200 hectares, the Ban Hoc forest stretches about 5km, from the foot of Pu Sen mountain to the border of Chau Hoan commune. The road to the forest is quite close. Although the group has female members, it only takes about 20 minutes to walk, through a field and a palm forest with leaves like a dark green umbrella, plus a gentle slope to arrive. Under the forest canopy, you can feel the cool, cold air, you can see that the vegetation here is diverse, and is very well protected. The upper layer is close together with many types of straight-stemmed trees such as rang rang, de, da cheo... with a base circumference of 30 - 50cm; and the lower layer, there are many species of bamboo, linden, herbs mixed with medicinal plants. Among them, there are quite familiar medicinal plants with high economic value such as cinnamon, cardamom, yellow tea flower...
After enjoying the forest of Hoc village for more than half an hour, we were taken to visit Cuom stream. As the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune, Nguyen Van Dung, introduced, Cuom stream is implementing the project to preserve and develop the Mat fish aquaculture. "After a period of protection, in Cuom stream now there are some sections with a lot of Mat fish. Standing on Sop Lich bridge or Cuom village bridge, you can see schools of Mat fish following each other..." - he said. And as the Chairman of Dien Lam commune People's Committee said, it was true. Standing on the Cuom village bridge, lightly sprinkle some bran, under the clear water at the bottom of the stream, you can clearly see schools of fish in very large numbers swimming around and catching bait. A young man was allowed by the Cuom village management board to "cast a net so that the group could see more clearly about Dien Lam Mat fish". While spreading the net and diving to chase the fish for about 10 minutes, the young man of Cuom village brought up about a few dozen Mat fish, estimated to weigh more than 1.5kg. Each one is thick, firm, and has beautiful silver scales that sparkle with a blue light...
Visiting Hoc forest, Cuom stream, villages with terraced fields, thousand-year-old fig and mango trees..., but the most impressive thing for us was the green color of Dien Lam, seeing this place worthy of being called a green area. Therefore, we went back a few days later to better understand how to preserve the green area.
The person we were introduced to meet by the commune was a prestigious elder of Cuom village, Mr. Lu Trong Bang. As someone who has made contributions to the research of culture - beliefs, and folk performing arts, in 2022, Mr. Bang was awarded the title of Meritorious Artisan by the State. But as if understanding the wishes of the guests, in more than an hour of conversation, he only "revolved" around the love story of the Dien Lam people and the natural values that this land brings.
Mr. Bang told the story enthusiastically: “In Dien Lam, if there is a family that builds a house for their children to live separately, or if there is a family that has a death, the people in our village will come to help. We help completely voluntarily without waiting for the Village Management Board to call and remind us. As the lowlanders often say, “love others as you love yourself”… Dien Lam has many unique characteristics. If a Dien Lam buffalo gets lost, people from other regions will know that it is a Dien Lam buffalo. If a Dien Lam woman drops a scarf, people from other regions will know that it is a Dien Lam woman’s scarf. Dien Lam men are very strong, Dien Lam women are tall… That is because Dien Lam is blessed by nature, with a large primeval forest with many rare and precious trees such as po mu, sa mu and many medicinal plants, and dense streams with many special fish species. Thanks to such a pure natural environment, people, The scenery in Dien Lam has its own unique features…”.
Asked Mr. Bang: The lives of Dien Lam people are still closely linked to the forest, how can people create awareness, so as not to impact or affect the forest? He answered that every Dien Lam person is aware of the need to protect the forest. Previously, if we took forest trees, it was only for family use. Now, the State has assigned the primary natural forest to 3 management units, including Pu Huong Nature Reserve, Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board and the Commune People's Committee. These 3 units have their own management methods so that the village and hamlet communities can participate in protecting the forest. Like Hoc village forest, after being assigned, the village and hamlet communities have built conventions for the villagers to strictly follow. Or like Pu Huong Nature Reserve, to protect thousands of hectares of primary forest, they have also built a forest protection plan for the village and hamlet communities to support and actively participate...
Regarding the protection of the Hoc village forest, we met and listened to the Party Secretary Quang Van Dong discuss. According to Mr. Dong, the Hoc village forest is a treasure left by our ancestors. In 2002, when there was a plan to divide the forest and give it to households, the village elders strongly disagreed, deciding to keep the forest for the collective so that the village community could manage and preserve it to pass on to future generations. “This is the headwater forest to preserve water and forest resources. If divided among households, the forest will belong to individuals, so how can they manage it…” – Mr. Dong said.
According to Mr. Dong, in the past, when young people in Hoc village got married, there was a regulation allowing them to exploit a part of the forest under the supervision of the village chief to build a house. Until 2016, the village did not allow anyone to cut down wood or encroach on the forest. The village's convention clearly stated 5 prohibitions.The first,It is forbidden to encroach on community forest land;Monday, prohibiting slash-and-burn farming in community forests;Tuesday, prohibiting indiscriminate exploitation of forest products in community forests;Wednesday, prohibit the use of fire in community forests;Thursday, prohibiting hunting rare animals in the community forest. The convention is so strict that anyone who violates it will be severely punished by the village. “Since the convention was established, no one in Hoc village has violated it. There have only been a few cases of Chau Hoan people destroying the forest and illegally exploiting forest products, but they were all discovered and severely punished by the Hoc village community, forcing them to write a commitment not to repeat the offense…” – Mr. Dong said.
Regarding the rights of the people of Hoc village, the Secretary of the Hoc village Party Cell said that they are allowed to go into the forest to find cardamom, cinnamon, honey, medicinal plants and dry branches for firewood. In addition, every year the Hoc village community receives 31 million VND from the forest environmental service policy; in 2024, they will receive an additional fund for forest protection management in the amount of 73 million VND. The village will implement more than 100 million VND of this, following the instructions of the superiors, for forest protection work. Every month, the Hoc village community organizes 2 forest patrols; every quarter and at the end of the year, they organize meetings to summarize and evaluate. "Everyone in the village is aware and complies very well. Therefore, the Hoc village forest is being restored and developed very well to gradually become a primeval forest..." - Mr. Quang Van Dong excitedly said.
In Dien Lam, we contacted the leaders of Pu Huong Nature Reserve. It was confirmed that Dien Lam forest is mostly a special-use forest with an area of 7,869.6 hectares. The forest has a high coverage density, a rich and diverse ecosystem, and is preserving many rare species of animals and plants with high economic value and great significance in scientific research. Typically, there are species of po mu, sa mu dau, 7-leaf 1-flower ginseng...; rare animals such as loris, black gibbons, silver-cheeked black gibbons, gray langurs, crested pheasants, white pheasants... Regarding forest protection, using the project fund to pay for forest environmental services and sustainable forest protection, Pu Huong Nature Reserve Management Board organizes the signing of contracts with community groups to protect the forest every year. Such a group has about 70 households or more, then divided into small groups, each group has 5 people. Dien Lam - Chau Hoan Forest Protection Station is responsible for assigning forest areas to the groups, and supervising and directing the implementation of forest patrols.
According to the Head of Dien Lam - Chau Hoan Forest Protection Station, Nguyen Dinh Hoang: “Every month, each team conducts 2 forest patrols, each 2 days. Therefore, on any given day in Dien Lam, there is at least one forest patrol team. At the end of each patrol, the team leader of each team will be responsible for recording information, signing confirmation in the diary; at the same time, writing minutes, patrol reports and then sending pictures of the patrol and the assigned forest area to be protected via the group's Zalo for the station to keep and report to superiors…”.
There have been aspirations for innovation from Dien Lam that have been nurtured and expressed. Those aspirations are all based on what is available. As the Chairman of the People's Committee of Diem Lam commune, Nguyen Van Dung, worried: "Dien Lam land is endowed by nature with many famous landscapes and landscapes, so the Party Committee and the commune government always aspire to find ways to exploit these values, to promote socio-economic development, gradually changing people's lives. Dien Lam's focus on preserving and protecting forests, implementing conservation and development of aquatic resources is also exploiting the advantages of natural resources, helping people develop the economy and aiming to develop eco-tourism in the future...".
Or as Meritorious Artisan Lu Trong Bang confided, he passionately wishes to spread beautiful cultural features such as Long Tong Festival, Xang Khan Festival, Pu Xua Festival...; folk songs of nhuon, xuoi, lam, folk dances such as xii gong, xii lau, xii dang..., so that Dien Lam will be known to more society.
After two trips to Dien Lam, listening to these confidences, I understand that the remote land of Quy Chau mountain district still has many difficulties. But I believe that when cadres and people share the same aspirations, they will unite to promote intrinsic values; and I believe that with a great asset bestowed by nature, Dien Lam will soon receive support in all aspects to gradually change. I believe that because the green land of Dien Lam is worthy of being an important destination of Quy Chau district!
