Hundreds of hectares of virgin forest in Hoa Bac Commune, Hoa Vang District have been seriously deforested, and the trees have been replaced by a vast green acacia plantation which is now ready for harvest. 

There are now also very few standing timbers left in the other pristine woodland areas in the district.  In particular, many forest trees with diameters of between 30cm and 40cm have been cut down.  Crimson red resin has been found exuding from the stumps of newly logged trees, and the areas are becoming overgrown with shrubs and weeds.

The stump of an illegally logged tree

Meanwhile, the majority of forest trees have also been logged in sub-region 54 of the city’s Ba Na-Nui Chua special use forest in Hoa Vang District, which borders Quang Nam  Province’s Dong Giang District.  Early this month, the Hoa Phu Commune’s militia force and forest rangers from the Management Board for the special use forest found 20 large trees being cut down by illegal loggers.

Da Nang has only around 50,000ha of woodland, nearly 30,000ha of which are special use forests.  There are a total of 102 forest rangers, plus about 40 members from the Management Board for the Ba Na-Nui Chua special use forest, militia forces at commune level, and sufficient equipment and tools to use in protecting the forests.  However, the problem of illegal logging has yet to be resolved effectively.