Dakrong Workshop
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 7:33PM 
Dr.Ninh Khac Ban (shown above; see Which Rattan Is That and Glimpses of Transects) and I gave a workshop yesterday at the Dakrong Nature Reserve in Quang Tri province on measuring the growth and yield of rattan. The workshop was attended by representatives from six protected areas in the Central Truong Son Mountains.
The image below shows three workshop participants (l to r), Le Van Huong, vice-Director of the Phong Dien Nature Reserve, Tran Van Thu Director of the Song Thanh Nature Reserve, and Hoang Ngoc Tien, Director of the Dakrong Nature Reserve. Together, these three young men are in charge of over 175,000 hectares of the best rattan habitat in Vietnam. And they are listening attentively and taking notes on how to manage this resource on a sustainable basis. [NOTE: Mr. Thu, the Director of Song Thanh N.R., is currently doing a masters at Hue and I am a member of his advisory committee. For his thesis, he is developing a management plan for rattan in the reserve. Of which I am quite pleased].
