VietNamNet Bridge – Thirty-five cubic meters of kien kien wood (Hopea pierrei Hance) have been felled in the Ba Na – Nui Chua special-use forest without the owner’s knowledge.

A task force sent by the Dong Giang District People’s Committee to the Ba Na – Nui Chua special-use forest (SUF) discovered two cases of logging, and found 35 cubic meters of kien kien wood in an adjacent area between Da Nang City and Quang Nam province.

This was the second biggest illegal logging case ever found in the SUF area.

The wood was concealed in dozens of places in Lay Hamlet and Ward No 37 of the SUF, which is under the control of the Ca Nhong Forest Protection Station, a unit of the Ba Na – Nui Chua SUF Management Board in Da Nang City.

The sites are located in a remote area difficult to access. They are 60 kilometers from Da Nang City, adjacent to territory between Da Nang City and Quang Nam province. From Trung Mang, it takes another 15 kilometers on slippery roads to reach the Ca Nhong Forest Protection Station, and then three more hours to walk to the area.

On October 6, the task force discovered and seized 14 cubic meters of kien kien wood in Ward No 37. On October 11, the task force discovered another 10 cubic meters of wood in five places in Quang Nam province and 10.1 cubic meters of wood in four places in Da Nang City.

The Quang Nam provincial and Da Nang municipal authorities have come to an agreement that the illegally logged wood found in Quang Nam will be seized by Quang Nam authorities, while the wood found in Da Nang will be dealt with by city authorities.

However, the Da Nang forest rangers cannot do the work because of the bad conditions of roads caused by the jungle rains. The seized wood still has not been carried away from the forest.

The forest owner, the Ba Na – Nui Chua SUF Management Board, did not know about the illegal logging and loss of precious wood, even though the deforestation was the worst case that had ever occurred in Da Nang City.

No one can explain why the logging, which take some time to do, with wood carried all the way to the Ca Nhong Station, was not discovered by competent agencies.

The devastated forest area has been put under regular watch by Da Nang City’s forest rangers.

Only in early 2014, after the local people reported the illegal logging did the Dong Giang District authorities set up a task force to investigate illegal deforestation activities.

Dinh Van Huom, deputy chair of Dong Giang District, said the precious wood cut down was at the Ba Na – Nui Chua SUF, because this is the only area where kien kien wood can still be found, because the wood has not existed in his locality since 1993.

Thien Nhien