Forest ranger resigns four times to go "forest hunting" on the rocky plateau

During his 38 years working at the Dong Van District Forest Protection Department, Ha Giang Province, Mr. Pham Van Dong experienced many happy and sad stories, as well as imminent dangers. His love for the profession and the mountains and forests helped him overcome and stay attached to the forests in the Ha Giang rocky plateau.

Love the industry, love the job to complete the task of forestry

"I am very proud that both my first and last name are the same as the name of the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong," a forest ranger from Dong Van District Forest Protection Department (Ha Giang Province) happily started the story with a smile.

While making tea, looking towards the pine hill behind the old town of Dong Van, Mr. Pham Van Dong suddenly remembered something and turned to us to "negotiate": "I will only sit with you for 30 minutes at most, today I have a schedule to patrol the forest".

Mr. Pham Van Dong, Forest Ranger of Dong Van District Forest Protection Department, Ha Giang Province. Photo: Van Hoang

Born in 1969, Mr. Dong has two bloodlines, his mother is Hmong and his father is Kinh. His parents worked in the forestry farm, but after finishing school, Mr. Dong chose to work as a worker. A few years later, his family persuaded him, and in 1986, Mr. Dong decided to work at the forestry farm. His life has been attached to the forest since then.

A few years later, a forest ranger knew Mr. Dong and wanted to put him to work because "this guy is so hard-working". "At that time, I determined that wherever I work, I have to love the industry and the job to complete the tasks assigned by the Party and the State", Mr. Dong recalled.

In the early 90s, when Mr. Dong joined the forestry industry, there were still many difficulties. When patrolling the forest, the rangers had to pick wild vegetables, and occasionally received a bowl of men men from the people. But the rangers still nimbly walked through the forest, clinging to the rocky mountains like mountain goats.

"It's very difficult, but try to complete the task, preserve the qualities of Vietnamese forest rangers, and not affect the unit, agency, or the Vietnamese Forestry industry," Mr. Dong was determined.

After nearly 40 years working in the forestry industry, Mr. Pham Van Dong always remembers to "maintain moral qualities and not let money influence him." That's why Mr. Dong and his colleagues are loved by the people but hated by illegal loggers.

The forest ranger was threatened many times, even had his shoulder hacked with a saw by illegal loggers, causing blood to splatter. Very honestly, Mr. Dong shared that there were times when he thought of "going to another unit. The Forestry industry is dangerous, he travels a lot, sometimes he patrols alone in the cold mountains and forests."

Dong Van District Forest Protection Department coordinates with relevant forces to patrol the forest. Photo: PVĐ

After many nights of thinking, putting aside the difficulties and dangers, Mr. Pham Van Dong continued to work as a forest ranger.

After many years of working and doing his job well, in 2005, Mr. Dong was appointed by his superiors as Deputy Head of the Forest Protection Department and Deputy Head of the Forestry Management Board of Dong Van District. Mr. Dong has two jobs, in addition to attending meetings and training courses, he still has to complete his daily work.

Mr. Dong recalls that there were nights when he had to stay up all night to work, because at that time, he only had desktop computers so he couldn't bring them home to work, and had to sit there many times past his meal time. "My wife said, 'Brother, you're working too hard, so please resign from your position, you can't be a deputy director anymore.'"

Listening to his wife's encouragement, Mr. Dong repeatedly submitted petitions to his superiors before being dismissed from his position as Deputy District Chief after 11 years in office.

"In 2016, I applied for the fourth time before the province agreed to dismiss me from the position of Deputy District Chief. If I had gone to university before that, they probably wouldn't have let me quit. I would have had to become District Chief," Mr. Dong shared with a grin.

Looking up at the wall clock showing 7:30, Mr. Dong fidgeted, but was reluctant to "chase" the customer. We understood his intention and wanted him to share a little about his current life and future plans.

"I live in Dong Van with my wife. My children are all working, none of them follow their father's career. Before I retire, I will borrow money from the bank to renovate the house into two or three rooms for guests to stay, which will increase my income," Mr. Dong said about his future plans.

Mr. Pham Van Dong in a propaganda session, mobilizing people to actively protect and develop forests. Photo: VH

Forest is money, no forest is no money

Early autumn morning, in the Dong Van highlands, the weather is chilly. After finishing the conversation at the Forest Ranger Department headquarters, we followed Mr. Dong out of Dong Van district by motorbike to the forest gate, left the motorbike, and cut some tree branches to make an umbrella to shade the motorbike from the sun.

Mr. Dong pointed to the rolling mountains and said: "The forest I manage in Pho Cao commune is the largest, about 6 hours walking distance. I am in charge of Thai Phin Tung, Pho Cao, Ta Phin communes, Pho Cao alone is nearly 1,000 hectares, the other 3 communes are nearly 2,000 hectares. There is not much rare wood here, only a little red pine, bamboo pine, mainly oak and troi trees."

Climbing rocky mountains, passing through barren forests covered with moss, "the forest here grows slowly because of the rocky mountains, so the biggest tree is as big as a paint bucket", Mr. Dong introduced.

While clearing a path through the forest for patrolling, Mr. Dong said: "In recent years, the government has had protection policies and the forests are growing more and more. People are interested and protect them closely, and they have benefited from them. Forests are money, money is forests. If we don't protect the forests, when the money runs out, the forests will run out."

Local people in Dong Van district participate in a forestry law dissemination class. Photo: VH

Thanks to good propaganda work and signing commitments with the people, the violations related to the forest where Mr. Dong was assigned to be in charge only involved a few cases of stealing ornamental trees as big as Mong tobacco pipes.

To protect the forest well, according to Mr. Dong, when propagating, there must be the secretary, village chief, village team leader, village security and order protection team, agricultural extension workers, and representatives of all households over 18 years old to attend the meeting and sign the commitment.

In the commitment, there is no exploitation, no hunting of animals, no use of fire in the forest, burning of fields must be reported, etc. After the meeting, people discussed the appropriate time to burn fields, for example, burning in the morning, but not in the dry, windy afternoon, and the burning must be gathered into piles, 30m from the edge of the forest, so as not to affect the forest.

The group had been patrolling the forest for about 2 hours when Mr. Dong suddenly stopped and said, "Here, 16 years ago, I was hacked to death by a saw in the shoulder by a "forest bandit". Luckily, it was a saw, otherwise, my shoulder would have been severed by a knife."

"We caught him, we have to take out his knife immediately, the first thing is to keep his weapon" Mr. Dong said and addressed him with a broken indigenous accent (it - locally means another person).

A meal in the forest of the forest rangers and related units while patrolling the forest. Photo: PVĐ

Our forest patrol continued, on the way, Mr. Dong told us that he could not remember how many forest land and tree disputes he had mediated in the past 38 years, and all of them were successful. He also could not remember how many forest trips he had made, there were places where his footsteps had worn away the plateau's rocky outcrops.

According to Mr. Dao Duy Tuan - Director of the Forest Protection Department of Ha Giang province: Mr. Pham Van Dong is a Forest Protection officer who loves his job, is diligent and dedicated to his work, has a truly pure ethics, and is loved and respected by his colleagues. "Comrade Dong always excellently completes the task of protecting the forest on the Dong Van stone plateau, the land in the northernmost part of the country's border", commented the Director of the Forest Protection Department of Ha Giang province.

Keep your promise to your wife

Born in 1996, the youngest Forest Ranger of Dong Van District Forest Ranger Department, Hoang Van Thuong, graduated from Thai Nguyen Forestry University, was born in Quang Binh District, in the same Ha Giang province but about 200km from Dong Van, taking 8 hours to travel.

Realizing that Dong Van is the place where he can train himself, to protect the forest well, mass mobilization work is very important, he wants to have challenges for himself... That is the reason why Thuong set off with a promise to his wife: "I will go to do the task first, the organization has assigned it, I will try to work well and then open a small shop for my wife. We will start a business in Dong Van".

But Thuong did not expect that the first days at work would be so difficult. "The first day at work felt completely different from going to school, there were many situations that arose that I could not approach," Thuong recalled.

Forest ranger Hoang Van Thuong propagates and mobilizes people to commit to protecting the forest. Photo: VH

Thuong did not know the way, just used google map, there was no language barrier, he was very confused, he did not know anyone, all were strangers. Many times he wanted to "go down the mountain" to his wife and children. Every time like that, Thuong remembered the promise he made to his wife, he was determined to learn: "Thanks to the help of my brothers and sisters, I got used to the environment and the work I was in charge of, now I have a basic grasp".

After more than 3 years of working, Thuong has gradually become accustomed to the job, and most importantly, Thuong has kept his promise to his wife. He took his wife and children from Quang Binh to Dong Van, opened a restaurant serving castrated chicken pho and bun cha for breakfast in the town center, and on his days off he worked as a waiter for the "owner" in front of his cute little daughter.

Source: https://danviet.vn/can-bo-kiem-lam-bon-lan-xin-thoi-chuc-de-di-di-rung-tren-cao-nguyen-da-20241010225220112.htm