June 4th, 2017:

Doan Tan Tai trims back the acacia forests being grown for lumber near Trieu Ai.

Another project I worked on in April with the Global Community Service Foundation and the World Wildlife Foundation was reforestation and creating sustainable acacia forests in the Quang Tri region of Vietnam. The goal of this project is to encourage farmers to let the forests come to full 9 year maturity before harvesting (currently, if the money is needed, farmers harvest the lumber at 5 years). Having a longer life cycle encourages more forest diversity, creates less clear cut ground at any given time and is more profitable to the local farmers. The donor organizations offer micro financing loans to 32 local farmers for fill the financial gap during the 5th to 9th years.

The day I was taken into the woods, Doan Tan Tai guided me around his plot as he trimmed back the lower branched and I met with a couple other farmers who were out replanting some empty acreage.

Seedlings being replanted in the clear cut area of the acacia forests being grown for lumber near Trieu Ai.

Farmer Nguyet Thi Gai in the clear cut area of the acacia forests being grown for lumber near Trieu Ai.

Seedlings being replanted in the clear cut area of the acacia forests being grown for lumber near Trieu Ai.

Doan Tan Tai trims back the acacia forests being grown for lumber near Trieu Ai.

Getting out to the forests was a damn solid adventure in itself. We started by getting stuck in the mud for a solid 30 minutes, before giving up and leaving the truck behind, walking for 15 minutes and carrying on the rest of the distance on the back of a couple 125cc motorbikes in the mud. I ended up blowing out my flip-flops and having to take them to a street side shoe repair man for a $0.90 fix.

Farmer Tren Kij in the clear cut area of the acacia forests being grown for lumber near Trieu Ai.

The less messy part of this day was visiting the Hai An commune, a 1.2 hectare test project growing lemongrass near the coastal settlements. Global Community Service foundation has invested 4000USD in watering systems, the land and organic fertilizer.
9 families are taking part in this pilot project after recent contamination from Taiwan destroyed most of the local fishing, which traditionally made up their livelihood.  The plants offer two harvests in their life cycle. At 2 months the leaves will be cut to use for lemongrass oil at 5 months each plant will produce 5-7 stalks of lemongrass for food use.

So far this pilot project is going well, and if this first season is successful, plans are to convert much of the local silty land to lemongrass farms. Quang Tri region, Vietnam.