Discovering the hundreds of years old ironwood forest in Nghe An's rice district

Treasures of Quy Lang

Lang Thanh Commune,Yen Thanh districtFormerly called Quy Lang, the locality has many superlatives: Sung Communal House is the largest in the region, the commune has the largest area in the district...

In particular, Quy Lang has a vast ironwood forest, a rare sight in Nghe An, planted by our ancestors hundreds of years ago. The elders recounted that when they grew up, they saw the vast ironwood forest, with tree trunks as big as communal house pillars. Some people believe that Quy Lang ironwood forest was planted 300 years ago.

Quy Lang land is associated with the ironwood forest, which is Bau Sung, full of water all year round, winding through the ironwood forest areas, creating a poetic landscape.

When talking about the effects of Quy Lang lim forest, people are proud that lim forest, in addition to its inherent conservation value left by their ancestors, also creates landscapes.ecological environmentnaturally, creating an abundant water source that has been closely associated with the lives of Quy Lang people for generations. Therefore, the ironwood forest and Sung lake are natural images imprinted in the souls of every person born and raised here.

From the commune center, together with Mr. Nguyen Huu Binh, a forestry officer of Lang Thanh commune, we went to the lim forests in the places Ru Chua, further away Hoc Nong, Dong Bau, Ve Thang, Hon Sao, Dong Nhiem... every area has big, tall lim trees. According to Mr. Binh, there was a time when the entire local lim forest had over 2,000 trees, living concentrated in an area of ​​106 hectares of special-use forest.

Along with the lim trees are countless other miscellaneous trees, but the proportion of lim in the forest accounts for up to 70%. Because it has been planted for a long time, the diameter of the lim tree trunk is from 60 cm to nearly 1 m. The precious thing is that Quy Lang lim is a variety of "caterpillar" lim and "green" lim, with a strong core and beautiful patterns. In Vietnam, green lim is classified in the group of rare "four ironwoods" (dinh, lim, sen, tau). With such an area and number of trees, it can be affirmed that in Nghe An, there is no place with lim forests like in Quy Lang.

According to local people, from the end of the 20th century onwards, pineapple trees were planted under the canopy of the ironwood forest. The native pineapples used to be large, sweet and delicious when ripe. During the harvest season, hundreds of families earned income from selling pineapples.

However, later, Cayen pineapple trees were planted in many localities, so people did not replant native pineapples under the ironwood forest canopy anymore. At the same time, there was a time when ironwood trees died for unknown reasons and the encroachment on ironwood forests occurred, causing the number of ironwood trees to gradually decrease, replaced by acacia and cajuput forests.

The risk of losing ironwood forests

Talking about the work of protecting the treasure of Quy Lang ironwood forest for more than 2/3 of a century, Mr. Nguyen Ho Son - Chairman of Lang Thanh Commune People's Committee said that before 1945, the entire ironwood forest belonged to a number of households and a number of clans. Every year, households planted more ironwood saplings in the forest and at the same time nurtured some valuable forest products such as mahogany, ironwood, and trai... and some miscellaneous plants in the forest such as pineapple and rattan.

By 1954, the entire area of ​​ironwood forest was handed over to Lang Thanh Cooperative for general management. While the forest was growing well, in 1991, a caterpillar epidemic appeared and killed many ancient ironwood trees. In addition, the management of the ironwood forest by the Cooperative was ineffective because the protection team, consisting of elderly people, could not take responsibility, and many areas of ironwood forest were encroached upon by humans.

By 2001, the entire area of ​​ironwood forest was assigned to households for management, according to the State's policy of land allocation and forest allocation. Since then, many households have planted acacia and eucalyptus trees in ironwood forests, causing the situation of people converting ironwood forest area to grow paper raw materials more and more.

To protect the ironwood forest left by our ancestors as a priceless asset for future generations, on January 10, 2014, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued Decision No. 112/QD-UBND approving the planning of special-use forests associated with historical and cultural landscapes of Yen Thanh district until 2020, including the ironwood forest of Lang Thanh commune. The purpose is to call on the State to have a number of investment policies and mechanisms to develop ironwood forests.

Therefore, from 2015 to 2016, the entire ironwood forest was managed by the Commune People's Committee. From here, the commune built a police force responsible for protecting the ironwood forest. At the same time, the Commune People's Committee made a proposal to the District People's Committee and relevant departments to have a policy of revoking the red books of households receiving ironwood forest forestry land so that the Commune People's Committee could direct the construction and development of ironwood forest more and more effectively.

However, up to now, the Quỳ Lăng ironwood forest has decreased significantly. Statistics from the People's Committee of Lang Thanh commune show that in 2014, of the 106 ha special-use forest area, natural forest accounted for 81.6 ha, acacia and eucalyptus plantations accounted for 17.99 ha, and bare land accounted for 6.74 ha. On the contrary, by 2020, of the 106 ha special-use forest, natural forest decreased to 25 ha, while acacia and eucalyptus plantations increased to 81.35 ha. The reason is that households have encroached on farming, not distinguishing the boundaries between household gardens and forest land.

Unfortunately, the number of dead lim trees in Lang Thanh commune is increasing. In September 2023, the People's Committee of the commune established an inspection and counting team at 50 households receiving gardens and found 146 lim trees dead for unknown reasons.

To protect the Quy Lang ironwood forest, Mr. Nguyen Ho Son - Chairman of Lang Thanh Commune People's Committee said that the forest rangers, forestry, and related departments need to have timely solutions to overcome the overlapping consequences between special-use forests, production forests, and protection forests in management. Verify the origin of land use rights, planted forests, and protection forests to have strict management measures in forest management.

If the forest is still planned as a special-use forest, the superiors will have support policies and new strategies to both preserve ironwood trees and bring economic efficiency commensurate with the region.

Currently, the Quy Lang ironwood forest is being managed by local authorities and sectors to become a special-use forest, gradually exploiting an attractive eco-tour in Yen Thanh district: Ru Gam Temple (Xuan Thanh) - Ve Vung Dam (Dong Thanh) - Quan Hai Dam (Phuc Thanh) - Quy Lang ironwood forest..