VietNamNet Bridge – There is a green vast century-old ironwood forest covering hundreds of hectares of land in Yen Thanh district of the central province of Nghe An, the locality which has been well known for deforestation and forest fires.

“It is quite a nice surprise, isn’t it? Yen Thanh is not only the big rice granary, but also the home of a vast ancient ironwood forest as well,” said Nguyen Duy Tien, a local resident, who acted as the guide for the reporters to Yen Thanh district.

From a long distance, they could see a dark green space ahead, the typical color of the ancient ironwood forest. And when they reached the hamlet No. 8 of Lang Thanh commune, they felt the forest nearby, just a track away from Nguyen Thi Hoang’s, 54, home.

“No one knows how old the forest is,” Hoang said when she was asked about the history of the forest.

Old people in Lang Thanh commune believe that the ironwood forest is about 200 years old. But there is a guess that the forest was planted in 1691, when Nguyen Huu Dao from the commune got a high prize at a royal examination. If so, the forest is more than 300 years old already.

The ironwood forest is now put under the control of the Lang Thanh commune People’s Committee, which assigns local households to protect and take care for the parts of the forest. Hoang said she takes care of one hectare of the forest.

“You can’t see ironwood forests even in mountainous areas. But a vast forest exists here, in the lowland, surrounded by the rice fields. It is really wonderful, isn’t it?” Nguyen Than, one of the hundreds of local people who undertook the duty of protecting and taking care for the forest, said with a great pride.

In fact, not only Than Hoang and the hundreds of people, but all the local residents have been joining forces to protect the ironwood forest.

When reporters tried to go to the forest and take some pictures, a man came and asked: “Why do you go to the forest? Strangers are not prohibited to go there.” And only after the reporters showed their documents and talked about their duties, did the man named Mao, get into conversation with them.

“The ironwood tree grandparents have not changed much over the last 70 years, since I first saw them when I got 7-8 years old,” he said.

“The grandparents looked old when I was a boy, and they remain unchanged when I am now an old man,” he continued.

The ironwood trees stood close to each other. There were big and small trees, depending on their ages. The biggest trees have the trunk diameter of between 0.8-0.9 meters, while the others 40-70 cm.

Mao said the ironwood trees are full of vitality. They have been living, growing and green despite the floods, droughts or typhoons.

Local residents have every reason to take pride of the unique forest. While forests have been destroyed all over the country by people to get the land for cultivation, the ironwood forest still has been living well for hundreds of years.

DNSG