Lieutenant Colonel Nong Dinh Thiep, chief police officer of Ba Be district told VietNamNet yesterday that all defendants are Dao ethnic people, aging from 21 to 50 years old.

The defendants confessed that from early November 2012, they cut off 15 nghien (Burretiodendron hsienmu) trees of hundreds of years old (totaling about 65m3 of timber) in the core zone of the Ba Be National Park.

Earlier, in June 2012, VietNamNet published a series of articles about the destruction of ancient nghien trees in the Ba Be National Park.

After that, Bac Kan authorities instructed relevant agencies to verify the information. The Ministry of Public Security also joined hand to investigate rare wood logging in Bac Kan.

However, in November 2012, the nghien forest in Ba Be National Park continued to be destroyed.

Mr. Nong Van Chi, Vice Chair of the People's Committee of Bac Kan, said: "We consider this as a major case. It will not let this happen again."

Mr. Nong The Dien, Director of the Ba Be National Park said the park’s board of directors had requested the chief rangers of Quang Khe and Ban Qua forest protection stations to submit reports on the incident to clarify their responsibilities".

Ba Be National Park is a reserve, set up to protect a freshwater lake (Ba Be Lake) along with surrounding limestone and lowland evergreen forests. It is located about 240 kilometers northwest of Hanoi. Ba Be Lake is the largest natural fresh water lake in Vietnam, stretching about 8 kilometers in the north-south direction.

Ba Be National Park was established in 1992, it covers an area of 100.48 km². Facilities include an information center, guest houses, a lake management station, and an ecological research station opened in 2004.

The vegetation in Ba Be National Park mainly consists of limestone and evergreen forest. The dominating tree species of the lime stone forest are Burretiodendron hsienmu (Tiliaceae) and Streblus tonkinensis (Moraceae). Climbing bamboo (Ampelocalamus) is a regional endemic plant common on the hill slopes near the lake shore.

65 mammal species have been recorded in the park. Furthermore, 233 bird species, 43 reptile and amphibian species among them the King Cobra and the Vietnamese Salamander (Paramesotriton deloustali), have been recorded. In Ba Be Lake, 106 fish species from 61 genera, 17 families, and 5 orders have been recorded. The park is also noteworthy for its diversity in butterflies for which 354 species have been recorded.

Hoang Sang

(VietNamNet Bridge)