Old forest trees are dying slowly
More than 1 month has passed since the serious protection forest fires occurred in Trieu Co and Nam Cua Viet communes (Quang Tri province), the traces of damage are still clear.
In sub-area 794, Trieu Co commune, many areas only have sandbeds covered with black ash, weeds and scorched shrubs. Through counting in the area of more than 90ha where the fire occurred, only about 40% of the area has forest trees, and about 60% is vacant land with weeds, shrubs and thick vegetation. Not far away, the protection forest in Linh Chieu village is lucky not to be "visited" by fires, but on the white sand, only a few melaleuca trees were planted more than 20 years ago, many trees have trunks only the size of a wrist, growing slowly. Ms. Hoang Thi Hong Hue - Vice Chairwoman of Trieu Co Commune People's Committee informed that many areas of protection forest on sand in the locality are very "poor", trees are not densely distributed, so the function of wind and sand shielding has not been promoted as expected. Most of the area of protection forest on sand is planted with acacia and melaleuca. Fallen leaves accumulate over Trieu Co commune has about 678ha of protection forest, but local trees only account for 49.77ha, the majority of the remaining area is yellow acacia and acacia hybrid. In the area managed by Trieu Phong Forest Protection Department including Trieu Co and Nam Cua Viet communes, the area meeting the criteria for forest is only about 50-60%, while there are still about 520ha of vacant land for forestry planning.
According to Trieu Phong Forest Protection Department, the fire from June 23-26 in Trieu Co commune and the fire on June 26-27 in Nam Cua Viet commune had a total burned area of 460ha, of which nearly 150ha is protection forest land without forest trees. Mr. Nguyen Khanh Chuong - Head of Trieu Phong Forest Protection Department - said that it is necessary to change the way protection forests are organized on sand. "It is necessary to invest in planting mixed species forests, increasing the proportion of native trees suitable for sandy land. Forests with many layers, many species of trees will promote better protection functions, while limiting the risk of fire spreading compared to dependence on some acacia and melaleuca species" - Mr. Chuong said.
Untie the knot to restore forests
According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quang Tri province, most coastal protection forests in the locality were formed from PAM, 327, 661 programs 20-30 years ago. Over time, many areas of yellow acacia trees have become old, tree trunks have rotted or gradually died due to drought, storms, flying sand, and flooding. Meanwhile, the conditions for establishing nutrient-poor sand areas, salinity, and frequent strong winds make forest restoration much more difficult than hilly land.
Mr. Phan Van Phuoc - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quang Tri province - assessed that the noteworthy difficulty currently lies in the mechanism for handling areas of protection forest that have degenerated and become old. Decree 42/2026/ND-CP has amended and supplemented regulations on the order and procedures for liquidating planted forests. However, sparse, old or degraded protection forests are not eligible for liquidation. Therefore, although the effectiveness of protection has decreased, forest owners cannot liquidate the entire area to replant with a more suitable tree structure, but mainly have to plant additionally to ensure forest density.
The main difficulty currently lies not in the funding source but in the legal basis. The lack of regulations allowing the liquidation of degraded and overgrown protection forests has limited the ability to convert forests to suitable native plant species" - Mr. Phuoc said. To gradually overcome this, the Department of Agriculture and Environment will advise the Provincial People's Committee to implement 6 groups of solutions. In which, priority is given to choosing crops that meet the conditions for land preparation; using high-quality varieties; improving soil, moisturizing...
