ĐẮK LẮK — Yok Đôn National Park’s management board in the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) province of Đắk Lắk on Friday has coordinated with Buôn Đôn District police to start investigation into a large-scale deforestation inside the park.

The deforestation was brought to the notice of the board on January 26 after patrol officers of forestry protection office No 8, under the Yok Đôn National Park, came across 45cu.m of deforested land for timber, Phạm Tuấn Linh, acting director of the management board, told dantri.com.vn online newspaper.

The area in question is the bordering belt of Sub-zone 408, currently managed by border-guard station 741, under Đắk Lắk Province’s Border-Guard Command. Trespassing is prohibited in the area.

The ranger force, in co-operation with Border-guard Station 741, has seized 23 pollarded trees, of which 19 are red-wood trees, two Cẩm Lai-wood trees and two belong to the group of precious wood.

According to a ranger, traces at the site show that the tree trunks were cut into boxes and some parts of the trees had been transported to other places.

Initial investigation by Yok Đôn National Park authorities reveals that the trees were illegally cut by unknown people in early January.

Further investigation into the matter is underway.

In the central province of Quảng Bình, several trees were logged down illegally in a preventive forest, forcing local forest rangers to go on high alert ahead of the Tết (Lunar New Year) holidays.

The logging of trees in the forest is expected to worsen the floods in the lower areas of the province during the rainy season this year.

Hồ Ngọc Danh, deputy director of Forest Ranger Department in the province’s Tuyên Hóa District, said the department had deployed staff rangers to keep a close watch on the remaining trees in the cut-down forest section, as they believed the loggers would return to take the 50cu.m of timber that they had left behind.

Earlier, residents living near the forest saw the loggers coming out from the forest and informed the rangers about the logging. Danh said his rangers had to travel to the neighbouring Hà Tĩnh Province to access the logged forest area.

The forest lies on the border between the two provinces, but there is no access to the rear part of the forest in Tuyên Hóa District from the Quảng Bình side.

Cao Xuân Tín, vice chairman of the district, was quoted by a local newspaper as saying the investigation into the case was ongoing and that they had clues showing that local loggers had worked with loggers from Hà Tĩnh to chop the forest trees.

Tín has pledged a detailed investigation, as well as protection for the remaining trees. Ahead of the Tết holidays, forest ranger departments around the country allow staff to leave early for the new year celebration with their families, before they return to work after Tết. Loggers often make use of this period to log trees illegally. — VNS