Museum in the forest

In a remote mountainous area in Ngoc Thanh, Phuc Yen town, Vinh Phuc province, there is a "museum" that holds hundreds of precious plant and animal species collected from all over the country.

That is Me Linh Biodiversity Station, established by the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources to preserve native gene sources. Located on an area of more than 170 hectares, but the team "operating" the station only 8 people .

The place of nature

'A dozen kilometers away from the population, we often joked with each other, this is a "prison camp" . However, working here is comfortable, not dependent on hours like civil servants, 'said Dr. Le Dong Tan, Director of Me Linh Biodiversity Station.

Picture 1 of Museum in the forest

Dr. Le Dong Tan introduced 88 species of plants to be planted in the station (Photo: H. Quan)

Dr. Tan said, the main work of the station is to take care of the collected indigenous tree species throughout the country.All of the additional plants planted here are labeled and monitored by the scientists using a navigation system.Information on the origin, distribution, growth situation is updated periodically, in order to build a complete data warehouse.'Sometimes watching your whole life is not done because many species have a life cycle greater than human age , ' said Dr. Tan.

For over a year now, KS Trinh Xuan Thanh is the only person at the station who is responsible for managing and looking after the trees.'This work fits my expertise and interests. But I just went to work, experience going to the forest and working in the field less so far, just remembering the names of trees and their characteristics is not easy. When I first came in, even if I had a poisonous plastic tree, I did not know how I tried to see the leaves, so it was horribly itchy , 'Thanh said.

In addition to the head station and the deputy station, Me Linh station also has four guards responsible for guarding and protecting stations from outside human impact.When going to the week, from the early morning, they walked through the forest until the evening before the end of a round and returned.'Although taking care of the effort but compensating the people here has a sense of protection and maintenance for the station, so there has not been a forest fire like the surrounding areas' , a guard here said.

Exhibition silently

Dr. Tan said that when receiving a wider area of 170ha to establish a station in 1999, the area of artificial natural forests of this station was only planted with acacia trees and natural disasters."The station currently has more than 1,200 types of natural and artificial plants," said Dr. Tan.

The station's "ecosystem" now includes not only native plants, but also 88 species of plants across the country such as needles, grinds, milk, black stars, blooms, slices of flowers, yellow and yellow. , brown grass . Some native species of deer and turtles have been brought here by scientists. "The collection of animals at the station currently has only 11 species of turtles with more than 50 individuals and 8 deer. Turtle species such as the Central Turtle, the Big Land, the Four Eyes, the Golden Mountain, the Seson, and the Sage . In a natural and semi-natural environment for comparison, the station has only one part-time employee for feeding animals and monitoring their health , ' said Dr. Tan.

Most turtles are received from Soc Son Wildlife Rescue Center or from scientific studies, while deer are brought from the mountains of western Nghe An.

Picture 2 of Museum in the forest

More than 300 orchid samples are labeled with numbers (Photo: H. Quan)

The most significant "collection" of Me Linh Biodiversity Station is the orchid garden with more than 300 acres. The samples of orchids are brought mainly from the northern mountainous localities. The flora in the station is divided into sets, including the flora on the mountain soil, plants on the rocky mountain, gymnosperms, bamboo set, humid plants, aquatic plants .

Dr. Tan said, the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources is planning a 10-hectare area to develop a variety of wildlife systems in a semi-natural environment.'In the next 20-30 years, this station will be built into a live exhibition of the most diverse species of plants and animals. The botanical gardens in the world only have specialized flora , 'said Dr. Tan.

Update 16 December 2018

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