Quy Lang ironwood forest

(Baonghean) -Rarely is there a place with a precious ironwood forest like Lang Thanh commune (formerly called Quy Lang), Yen Thanh district. No one in Quy Lang knows how old this ironwood forest is. According to the elders in the commune, the ironwood forest was planted by our ancestors at least 300 years ago...

I was born in Quy Lang land, when I grew up I saw the vast green lim forest, every tree was tall and big, with rough bark. 15 years ago, under the lim tree was a green pineapple garden. When the pineapple season came, the people of Quy Lang used bicycles, tied 2 baskets on the back to carry full of fruit to the markets from Yen Thanh to Dien Chau, to Quynh Luu to sell. We children, during the school day, during the cow herding day, often went into the lim forest to steal pineapples. Now when we come back, the lim trees are still there with time, but the pineapple garden is no longer there.

Quy Lang ironwood forest (Lang Thanh, Yen Thanh).

From the commune center to the nearest lim forest is only 1 km. That is Ru Chua, further away are Hoc Nong, Dong Bau, Ve Thang, Hon Sao, Dong Nhiem... every area has big, tall lim trees, well protected. According to statistics of Lang Thanh commune, currently the entire local lim forest has 2,104 trees, living concentrated on an area of ​​106 hectares. Along with 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 - nearly 1 m. The precious thing is that Quy Lang lim is the "caterpillar" lim and "green" lim variety, with a firm core, beautiful patterns, used to build houses, or make very good civil wooden furniture. 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.

Since 1995, implementing the policy of allocating forest land, the locality has assigned the entire ironwood forest to households for management and protection. Each family is assigned how many hectares, including how many ironwood trees and how many miscellaneous trees, all are counted and recorded in books by the locality for annual monitoring. If a family's garden loses one ironwood tree, the commune will fine them 200 kg of rice and compensate for the value of that ironwood tree. If one miscellaneous tree is lost, they will be fined 100 kg of rice. Therefore, for many years now, the Quy Lang ironwood forest has been kept intact. Families assigned gardens have the annual responsibility of clearing the undergrowth to prevent forest fires, and at the same time have firewood for fuel.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Tien's family in hamlet 8, who contracted 4 hectares of lim forest in Hon Sao area, said: His forest area has 40 lim trees and dozens of miscellaneous trees. In compliance with the commune's forest protection regulations, the family has managed to cut down and not lose a single tree. His family has also preserved a local pineapple area in the lim forest. Every year, before summer, the whole family goes into the forest to clear the ground cover, cut and prune unnecessary branches, creating conditions for the trees to grow and PCCCR. In the lim forest, there are many miscellaneous trees that can be used to make traditional medicine, many doctors come to collect leaves. In the past, there was Mr. Nghe Giap in the village, who had a special talent for treating villagers with leaves picked from the lim forest. After his death, the villagers built a temple to worship him. A few years ago, the villagers renovated it into a temple, called Nghe Temple, right in the lim forest that Mr. Tien managed. In addition, in the area of ​​the ironwood forest of Chua Pagoda, a few years ago, the locality restored the Upper Pagoda (also known as Thuong Son Pagoda) into a quite attractive spiritual destination.

Quy Lang land, associated with the ironwood forest is Bau Sung, which is full of water all year round, winding along the areas of the ironwood forest, creating a poetic landscape. When talking about the effects of Quy Lang ironwood forest, Mr. Hoang Danh Tho - Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, said: Quy Lang ironwood forest, in addition to its inherent conservation value left by our ancestors, also creates a landscape, a natural ecological environment, and an abundant water source associated with the lives of Quy Lang people for generations. Therefore, the ironwood forest and Bau Sung are natural images imprinted in the souls of every citizen. Currently, Quy Lang ironwood forest is being managed by local authorities and branches to become a special-use forest, gradually exploiting an attractive eco-tour in Yen Thanh district.

Xuan Hoang