Caring for special-use forests and green protection forests

Officers of the Hai Duong Provincial Forest Management Board inspect the care of the protective forest area on the top of Tam Ban mountain, in Thanh Mai village, Hoang Hoa Tham commune (Chi Linh).

Plants grow and develop well

Since the beginning of March, Mr. Luc Van Minh and the people in Thanh Mai village, Hoang Hoa Tham commune (Chi Linh) have started going to the Tam Ban mountain peak in the same village to take care of more than 6 hectares of newly planted protective forest. This is an area with rocky terrain, high mountains, steep slopes, and difficult travel, so taking care of the planted forest takes a lot of time and effort. The only way to get to the top of Tam Ban mountain, nearly 600 m high, is to walk along a small, narrow trail. Plant care work includes clearing undergrowth, vines, bushes, invasive weeds, and tilling the roots.

"Working for the construction company, we can only work about 5 hours a day because it takes 3 hours to go up and down the mountain and we have to bring tools, food, water, not to mention rest time. From the beginning of March until now, we have only been up the mountain for 5 days, because it has been raining for many days, the road is slippery and impassable. If the weather is favorable, it will take 10-15 more days for the 5 of us to take care of the entire area," Mr. Minh shared.

This newly planted forest area belongs to the Replacement Forest Planting Project invested by the Hai Duong Provincial Forest Management Board, implemented since March 2021, with a total investment of more than 1.1 billion VND from the replacement forest planting fund due to project owners converting forest use to other purposes.

The project planted more than 13,500 pine trees on an area of 8.03 hectares, including more than 6 hectares of bare land, bare hills, and exposed rocks on the top of Tam Ban mountain and 2 hectares converted from fruit tree planting to special-use forest planting on Phuong Hoang mountain in Van An ward (Chi Linh).

After 3 years of planting and caring, the pine trees have a survival rate of over 90% and are growing and developing well. Some trees are over 1 m tall, even 2.5 m. The forest planting unit is carrying out the 3rd year of care. After 4 years, the Provincial Forest Management Board will accept the work. If the density and standards are guaranteed according to the design documents, the unit will continue to hand over the forest to households who have contracted the forest to look after and protect it.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tuyen, Deputy Director of Hai Duong Provincial Forest Management Board, said that the project aims to improve forest quality, ensure protective functions and protect the environmental landscape of the special-use forest system and protective forests in Chi Linh City. At the same time, it also promotes the care and protection of this replacement forest area for contracted households and local people.

Great potential for forest development

Hai Duong currently has 11,161.2 hectares of forest and land planned for forestry development. Of which, there are 1,543.4 hectares of special-use forest, 4,662.7 hectares of protective forest, and 4,955.1 hectares of production forest. Forested land is 9,250 hectares, including 2,241 hectares of natural forest and 7,009 hectares of planted forest. Land planned for forest development is 1,911.2 hectares.

Every year, the forest planting unit organizes care for newly planted trees twice in March-April and September-October.

Along with protecting and stabilizing the existing forest area, Hai Duong always pays attention to forest development. In particular, it focuses on greening bare land and hills to increase forest cover.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hai Duong has advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Decision No. 6/2024/QD-UBND dated March 14, 2024 on promulgating the unit price for replacement forest planting when converting the purpose of forest use to other purposes in the province. Accordingly, the unit price for 1 hectare of replacement forest planting when converting the purpose of planted forest use to other purposes is 134,258,000 VND. For conversion of natural forest use, the unit price for replacement forest planting is calculated at 3 times the unit price for planted forest.

The reforestation project contributes to reforesting bare land and hills.

This is the basis for calculating the amount of money paid into the Provincial Forest Protection and Development Fund to organize replacement forest planting in case the project owner changes the purpose of forest use to another purpose without the conditions to carry out replacement forest planting themselves.

Previously, the replacement forest planting unit price was implemented according to Decision No. 20/2018/QD-UBND dated September 17, 2018 of the Provincial People's Committee. However, on September 25, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 31 to abolish Decision No. 20 because the replacement forest planting unit price established in 2018 is no longer suitable for the present.

The issuance of new unit prices is also the basis for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, agencies, units and project owners to continue implementing new replacement forest planting projects in accordance with the planned land fund for forest development to protect and develop sustainable forests.

THE ONE AND THE ONE

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