VietNamNet Bridge – Local people fear that the Xuyen Moc forest in Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu sanctuary would become empty one day if the illegal lumberjacks cannot be stopped.

The Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu sanctuary, located in Xuyen Moc district of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, covering an area of 10,000 hectares, is one of the rare coastal sanctuaries in Vietnam.

Therefore, it has been put under the strict protection with eight security guard stations and predict B40 barbed wire fence. However, the Xuyen Moc forest in the sanctuary still has been devastated everyday.

“There are many old trees which give precious wood in the forest,” TH, a local resident said, explaining why the forest attracts so many illegal lumberjacks.

“Especially, people can go there on an asphalt road, while they don’t have to climb hills and mountains. Therefore, no one can prevent illegal lumberjacks,” he added.

According to the man, the lumberjacks go to the forest and then go out in the daytime, like many other people who go seeking herbs or digging for bamboo sprouts. But they would return at night to chop down the trees they find and mark in the daytime.

“They carry the chopped trees out of the forests in trucks. But nobody tries to stop them,” he said.

On October 2, TH led a group of reporters to “penetrate” the Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu sanctuary. They climbed up the fence which was damaged by illegal lumberjacks in Theo Neo hamlet of Binh Chau commune.

A bassia tree was seen lying just 100 meters far from the forest edge, a big one with the trunk diameter of 40 cm. The lumberjacks might cut the trees several hours ago, because the resin was still leaking. They did not carry the tree away maybe because it was a hollow tree.

When reporters went further into the forest, they could see the piles of wood, about 1-2 cubic meters. “This is for firewood to make charcoal, priced at VND200,000-300,000 per cubic meter,” TH said, pointing the piles of timber.

The reporters surprisingly found many slumps of old big trees with the diameter of 50-60 cm on the area which was just hundreds of meters far away from the forest ranger unit No. 5.

When reporters asked about a deep hole on the earth, TH said that there might be the place of a century old tree, both the tree trunk and the root were taken away by the illegal lumberjacks.

“Why didn’t the forest rangers know about the tree cutting, if the illegal lumberjacks were so close to them?” – “Because the lumberjacks sawed the timber with special saws,” TH explained.

“They try to saw the timber at noon, at midnight, when forest rangers sleep. They even work on stormy days,” he added.

The Xuyen Moc forest has been “feeding” not only illegal lumberjacks, but wood traders as well. Their names have been well known in the locality, but they still can live well, lend a hand to others to devastate the forests and pocket fat profit.

While illegal lumberjacks devastate the forest to look for precious timber, local people also chop down trees to clear land for their fields. The once primeval forests are turning into the dessert.

Chi Mai