More than 300 verdant 5-year-old yellow cypress have arisen in the karst, which is the most convincing proof showing that the precious thing of the limestone area has revived. Yellow cypress has clearly escaped from the risk of getting extinct and begun its recovery process.
This is the first time in the history of Vietnam’s flora conservation, a species classified as critically endangered in the world’s red book can see such a happy ending like that.
Going to mountain to see the precious trees
Crossing the Can Ty pass on the left bank of the Mien river to the Hang Tong Chong sky high mount is the itinerary that the group of Vietnamese scientists and four foreign scientists from the US, Russia, the UK and Australia followed the last decade to find out the precious yellow cypress.
“Follow me, if you want to see the yellow cypress with your eyes, you need to cross two mountains and then climb to that sky high mount,” Giang Minh Hai, a local resident told the reporters.
After four hours of walking and a lot of rests, could the reporters finally set their foot on the Hang Tong Chong mount. It was the midday, but high peak of 1000 meters was still dim in mist. The thing that reporters could see first was the trees, about 10 meters in height, arising in pride. In the fog, the yellow cypresses showed a wonderful beauty. On the barren, the trees still can arise, brimful of vitality, despite the sun, wind and storm. The green leaves of the tree wonderfully harmonize with the colors of other trees, which create the endemic precious flora of the limestone area.
Pointing to the biggest tree, Hai said: “Some years ago, someone wanted to chop down the tree, but my father and I prevented him”. There were the traces of the knife cutting on the tree, from which saplings have arisen.
Looking at the green saplings, a member of the exploration team said that this was for the first time after many years of searching, did he discover a young yellow cypress in the wild. This shows that the yellow cypress population here still has the fertility.
The green sprouts of hope
The plantation area of the Vietnam conifer conservation center is located just 100 meters below the Hang Tong Chong mount. The center brings the hope of reviving yellow cypress. On the area of one hectare, about 300 yellow cypress trees are being grown. Each of the trees, now four years old, is given a code, which allows to keep a close watch over the trees’ development process. According to Hai, sometimes he sees some scientists from cities to come to examine the development of the trees and grow new trees to replace the dead ones.
“Yellow cypress has surely escaped from the risk of getting extinct,” Director of the Bat Dai Son sanctuary Lenh Xuan Trung affirmed. Trung led the reporters to the sanctuary’s nursery garden, showing the 500 yellow cypress trees on the development.
He said that the trees are the result of the implementation of the project on preserving endangered pine trees in Vietnam initiated by the Center for Plant Conservation and FFI.
Since 2007, about 300 yellow cypress trees have been carried to the area. The plantation has been very satisfactory with nearly 100 percent young trees surviving. In Can Ty commune, 200 more trees have been successfully grown. The recovery plantation period of yellow cypress has begun.
According to the Bat Dai Son sanctuary, local residents take care for the trees and receive 3000 dong for every tree a year. It is the residents who can protect the yellow cypress population in the wild.