VietNamNet Bridge – The Jarai people in Gron Village of the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum believe that the nearby forest is sacred, its trees immortal. They have adopted strict rules to protect the forest, for example punishing those who cut even a small branch for firewood by making them plant 100 new trees.

Nguyen Huu Manh goes to the forest with his knife every day to patrol and remove brush around the giang huong trees. The knife is also the only tool that helps him fight timber loggers. — Photo tienphong.vn

Old people tell their children and grandchildren to keep preserving the giang huong (pterocarpus macrocarpus) trees, calling them the soul of the village. 

The villagers have entrusted Nguyen Huu Manh and Rơ Mah Kem with protection of the forest for almost 20 years. Every day, the two men patrol there or remove brush to prevent fire.

They divide the forest into halves, each responsible for one, and meet up once they have completed their tasks.

Kem, a 51-year-old native villager, is intimately familiar with every tree. The giang huong trees are changing leaves in April, sprouting dark red buds and making the forest seem like it has changed into a new dress. It’s scorching outside but under the trees it’s cool.

“I was born in Gron Village and have lived here my whole life. As a child, I used to go to the forest with my friends to catch birds,” Kem said. “For us in those days this forest was the happiest place on Earth.” 

His partner, Manh, is not a native man. His family moved from the central province of Quang Binh over 20 years ago. For the first few years, they were struggling to make ends meet. They did not have enough rice to eat and had to add cassava.

Manh soon fell in love with the forest, accepting a job as a forest keeper and receiving VND2 million (US$90) monthly from the commune People’s Committee.

Nguyen Huu Manh (right) and Rơ Mah Kem have worked as forest keepers for 20 years. — Photo tienphong.vn

The hardship of the job and the low pay sometimes depressed him. Some acquaintance advised him to quit the job. “But I love the forest and I cannot leave it,” Manh said.

The two men’s shared love of the forest has turned them into brothers protecting a prized possession.

Manh said during their first days of working together, they built a bamboo hut in the heart of the forest. No power, no water, they only relied on an oil lamp.

On rainy nights, wind blew out the lamp and the two men sat in the darkness, listening to thunder.

Besides harsh weather and working condition, the two men also have to deal with illegal loggers. “The loggers usually send us threatening messages saying they will kill us or chop down the forest,” Manh said.

“We don’t care about such threats. What must be must be. Our job is to protect the giang huong forest,” Manh told the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.

Kem said they started working as forest keepers in 1996 when the commune People’s Committee chairman Rơ Mah Le decided the trees needed protecting from the waves of loggers seeking economic benefits.

“Le loves the forest, too. Three times a week he visited us in the forest. He brought some food, we had meals and chit-chats,” Kem said.

Manh’s wife said that illegal loggers worked in groups and were aggressive, while Manh and Kem went to the forest with just two simple jungle knives, which worried her a lot. 

"Manh is always telling me that he will seek another job ’next’ year but he has worked there for 20 years,” she said.

Manh and Kem numbered the trees in the forest. Over an area of 3.8ha they counted 1,200 big trees with trunks so thick that two people cannot encircle them, and 800 small trees.

During their patrols, Kem and Manh “howl” to signal to other villagers if they detect loggers. Once the villagers arrive and encircle the forest, the loggers cannot escape, Manh said, adding that the only road out of there passes by the houses of 50 families in Gron Village.

Viet Nam’s giang huong trees are listed in Group 1, a group of precious wood. A cubic metre of giang huong is worth hundreds of million of Vietnamese dong. People want the wood because of its perfume and firmness. Wrist-sized branches are also wanted. This turns the 2,000 giang huong trees of Gron Village into a desirable logging target.

Trinh Xuan Huu, a forest ranger responsible for the forest area in the commune, said there was no forests in Gia Lai Province comparable to the one in Gron Village.

Shortage of forest rangers was blamed for the loss of other forests in Central Highlands provinces, but in the last 20 years not a single giang huong tree in Gron Village was harmed, Huu said. “It’s thanks to the engagement of local villagers, particularly the two forest keepers Manh and Kem,” he said. 

VNS