VietNamNet Bridge – The Dak Lak People's Committee has set up a management unit to protect one of the two or three communities of yew-trees in Viet Nam facing risk of extinction.

Yet in neighbouring Lam Dong Province, a related species has been brought back from the brink of extinction through artificial reproduction techniques.

In Dak Lak, the Yew-tree Reserve Management Unit under the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, will build a reserve during the next five years for VND46 billion ($2.3 million).

The versatile yew tree, which prefers cool, highland slopes, can be used to make art objects and musical instruments. In Europe, it was once considered the best timber for bows because of its elasticity.

The bark and leaves from Vietnamese varieties of tree can be used to help cure rheumatism and relieve cancer and pain.

Forty years ago, yew trees grew thickly in Dak Lak and residents used the red coloured timber to build houses and fences.

But the tree's usefulness led to its decline. Hundreds were cut down and botanists say they are hard to germinate.

Bui Tho Dam, head of the Trap K'sor Yew-trees Protection Station in Krong Nang District in Dak Lak said many people asked for some of the tree's leaves to make medicines.

Sometimes the protection station sought help from the district's Forest Management Unit to prevent illegal logging of the timber.

The two remaining communities of yew-trees in the province total about 240 trees. They are managed by Trap K'sor Station and Ea Ral Station in Ea H'leo District.

Three out of 21 trees in the Trap K'sor forest are on farm land so the station pays the farmers VND100,000 (US$5) per tree per month to protect them.

Last year the station grew 10 young trees in a pilot programme, but all died.

"I have worked at the station for many years, but I have never seen any new yew tree sprouting. I'm afraid we won't have any yew tree in the future," said Dam.

Associate professor Bao Huy from Tay Nguyen University and head of the yew-tree reserve project said that the trees capacity to pollinate was poor.

Seedlings grown from old tissue in the laboratory did not survive when planted out.

In nearby Lam Dong Province, there are still 300 yew trees growing in the wild.

At the Lam Dong Research Centre for the Cultivation and Processing of Medicinal Plants, a layering technique enables new trees to sprout from small branches submerged in soil.

The centre successfully managed to grow many thousands of the trees which have been planted out on 7ha of land.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News