Since 2010 until the end of April this year, the local Forest Management Department detected more than 2,200 cases of deforestation, according to the latest reports.

In the first six months of this year only, nearly 660cu.m of nghien, a rare and valuable timber, was cut down.

Most deforestation has been uncovered in Coc Toc, Ao Tien and Ban Qua villages.

The department set up three more control stations in illegal timber trading hot spots and assigned eight more forest rangers to the Cho Don District Forest Management Unit.

The department, in co-ordination with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and provincial police, has begun investigations into illegal timber trading rings in the province, said director Hoang Van Hai.

The investigation team will focus on the routes connecting Ba Be District's Hoang Tri, Nam Mau and Dong Phuc communes and Cho Don District's Bang Phuc Commune and Highway 254, he added.

With local living standards remaining low and land for cultivation limited, people depend on the forest to earn a living, Hai explained.

"Moreover, the possibility of collusion between forest rangers and wood loggers is not ruled out."

Meanwhile, Ma Van La, director of the provincial police, said local residents would be disseminated with information on forest protection while village officials will be encouraged to take more responsibility.

Forest rangers of different stations will also be made to rotate, he added.

Nong The Dien, director of the Ba Be National Park Management Board, said it had suspended two forest rangers for their lack of responsibility leading to deforestation.

A director and two deputy directors of the management board also received warnings over the issue.

Ba Be National Park, 240km from Ha Noi, covers a total areas of 7,610ha.

The park forest covers an area of more than 3,220ha with 1,280 different kinds of fauna and 80 kinds of flora.

Many trees found in the forest are listed as rare and include nghien, dinh and lim.

(VietNamNet/Viet Nam News )