Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board: Overcoming difficulties to protect the forest

In recent times, the Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board has made efforts to implement many synchronous solutions, contributing to improving the effectiveness of forest management and protection. However, forest protection work is still facing many difficulties and pressures, requiring more feasible measures in the coming time.

Prevent mistakes in time

In 2007, the People's Committee of Dong Nai Province (old) issued a decision to convert Tan Phu Forest Enterprise into Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board; in 2019, it issued a decision to merge Protective Forest Management Board 600 into Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board. Since then, the unit has maintained stable operations.

Currently, Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board manages a total area of forest and forestry land of over 18 thousand hectares; of which, the natural forest area is over 13 thousand hectares (accounting for 74%) with valuable resources and biodiversity, many rare timber species (rosewood, rosewood, go...) and many forest animals (deer, pigs, chickens, monkeys, snakes...). In addition, in the planted forest area, there are valuable timber species such as teak...

Director of Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board Nguyen Le Anh Tuan said: The forest protection force is still "thin", while the management area is a mountainous terrain, with undulating hills divided by ravines and streams, with some places having very steep slopes. Because of being in charge of a large area and having many valuable forest resources, the forest protection work faces many difficulties and pressures. In the management unit's area, there are subjects illegally entering the forest to exploit, hunt, and trap wild animals with increasingly sophisticated tricks.

Specialized forest protection forces of Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board patrol the forest. Photo: An Nhon

Faced with the above situation, Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board has made efforts to implement many plans, focusing on patrolling and promptly preventing violations.

“Most of the forest patrol road system is dirt roads, making it difficult to travel, especially in the rainy season when the roads are muddy and slippery… The unit’s forest protection force has to patrol 30-40km every day by motorbike, combined with walking. Due to the nature of the work, the unit has to divide its forces to regularly patrol and lie in ambush day and night in the forest to ensure the completion of assigned tasks,” Mr. Tuan shared.

Recently, thanks to the determination in forest protection work, Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board has promptly prevented violations of the law, including illegal transportation of forest products.

Specifically, on May 21, 2025, the forest protection force of the forest protection patrol unit in the forest area (belonging to Sub-region 170-173) discovered Mr. N. (residing in Dinh Quan commune, Dong Nai province) using a motorbike to illegally transport forest products. The forest protection force asked the subject to stop the vehicle for inspection and discovered that the vehicle was carrying 3 dry teak logs. The inspection team asked Mr. N. to bring the evidence and vehicle to the headquarters of Sub-School I to clarify the origin of the 3 logs, but Mr. N. did not cooperate. After that, the inspection team brought all the evidence, vehicles, and tools of violation to the headquarters of Sub-School I to make a record and coordinate with the Forest Protection Department of Region 4 to verify and investigate to clarify the violation for handling according to the provisions of law.

“Thanks to the synchronous implementation of solutions, the unit has achieved many positive results in forest management and protection. The proportion of protected forest area is stable, there are no large forest fires or serious deforestation. The number of law violations has decreased significantly over the years, especially illegal exploitation and encroachment of forest land. Inter-sectoral coordination is increasingly effective, many cases are handled thoroughly, not left to drag on,” Mr. Tuan added.

Efforts to preserve the forest

In addition to the achieved results, the forest management and protection work of Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board still faces difficulties and challenges. The number of households contracting and cultivating on forestry land at the unit is currently very large (about 2,455 households with an area of 3,677.92 hectares); the situation of gathering construction materials, building temporary houses and works on forestry land, scooping tanks, and digging up forest land still occurs. The situation of encroachment on forest land is increasingly sophisticated and subjects secretly entering the forest illegally to hunt, trap animals, and illegally transport forest products is still complicated. In particular, these subjects are very reckless, ready to resist when the functional forces are on duty...

Head of Dong Nai Forest Protection Department Ngo Van Vinh said: In the first 6 months of 2025, the unit detected and received 96 cases of violations of regulations in the forestry sector (a decrease of 71 cases compared to the same period in 2024). The forest rangers handled 66 administrative cases and transferred 2 criminal cases to the police for investigation and handling according to regulations; the remaining cases were cases of handling ownerless forest products, with the violators not being identified.

According to Mr. Tuan, in the face of the above situation, the unit has proposed many plans and solutions. In particular, focusing on propaganda work with many diverse forms (integrating propaganda at people's meetings; going to every alley, knocking on every door to propagate...) to help people raise awareness and comply well with the Party's policies, the State's policies and laws related to the forestry sector; organizing forces to increase patrols and 24/7 on-duty posts to preserve the peace of the forests.

In addition, the unit will continue to invest in providing adequate means and equipment to support the specialized forest protection force; create favorable conditions for the specialized forest protection force to participate in training courses on situation handling and self-defense skills. The unit will continue to closely coordinate with local authorities and functional forces, especially promoting the application of information technology (forest surveillance cameras, flycams, GPS positioning systems for remote monitoring, etc.) in forest management and protection to bring about increasingly high efficiency.

An Nhon

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/202508/ban-quan-ly-rung-phong-ho-tan-phu-vuot-kho-giu-rung-a131ec1/