Visit to Vietnam Forestry University, Second Branch

Mr Tan and I were warmly received by the faculty, students and staff over the weekend. I had been invited to give 3 lectures. 

All were well attended by students who asked a lot of really good questions (after a little encouragement from their instructors to get them started! Mr. Hai is skillfully encouraging questions in the photo below.) The Friday morning lecture (attended by about 70 or so people, in case Fulbright is reading this) was an introduction of myself, Montana, and grassland conservation in the US in general and my work in the Missoula Valley specifically.  Questions included:

How can Vietnamese people apply knowledge about Montana here in Vietnam?

What suggestions did I have for continuing conservation goals in Vietnam?

How could VFU incorporate more service learning/volunteer activities into their course work (asked by a woman student who said she is eager to start contributing to conservation now)?

These are very broad (but excellent questions). My general responses were that I am a new visitor to Vietnam but hope to continue learning and collaborating. I have some specific ideas about some service learning projects in Cat Tien National Park, and maybe including some University of Montana undergraduates; specifically the big tree mapping project which is going to be a multi-year project for sure. (I will develop this idea in its own post).

Friday afternoon’s lecture was about the importance of education for all conservation efforts. I gave 2 examples: my work getting public support for noxious weed management and grassland conservation in Missoula, and David Schmetterling’s work in educating people in Missoula/Powell Counties about the impacts of Milltown Dam of native fish conservation, and the subsequent removal of the dam.  Then a general discussion of how to plan an education campaign:

Step 1: What do we value, Step 2: What is the problem here, Step 3: What can we do?

I asked everyone to please share some conservation stories from their experience. I heard about the fish introduced to Crocodile Lake in Cat Tien National Park. It seemed like it was going to be a problem at first, but it turned out that both people and crocodiles like to eat these, so (if I understand correctly) they are less of a problem than initially feared. Someone else told us about a specific kind of rare tree that grows in Cat Tien whose fruit is popular with the local people (who are quite poor). Since the tree is rare, its wood is valuable. However since the fruit is desirable, if the park could allow people to harvest some of the fruit, perhaps there could be a better partnership with the locals for protecting the trees instead of illegally cutting the trees down.

I think that the high poverty rate outside the park is one of the biggest conservation problems (if I am following the conversation correctly). Mr Tan translates everything wonderfully but sometimes it’s hard to understand the situation as an outsider, even when explained clearly in your own language.  Understatement of the year: Forest and wildlife conservation are really complex here. Between the biodiversity and the needs of the people (92 million people) living here, it’s difficult.

Non-sequitor: here is the beautiful guest house where we stayed at the VFU campus.

Saturday morning I shared 3 examples of how I use GIS/ GPS and Google Earth for invasive plant management in my work at UM.  If Jed Little is reading this, please know that I did not take credit for creating the maps! I made it clear to the audience that although I am not a GIS expert, the technology is now easier than even 5-10 years ago, and there are limitless applications for it. 

Dr. Khahn shared with me and Mr Tan a report in Vietnamese language explaining how Google Earth could be used more for resource management in Vietnam. It gave examples from several national parks and reserves around Vietnam. Back in Cat Tien today, I shared this report with the workshop participants and they reported that although they are aware of Google Earth, it isn’t widely used enough yet that they have used it for projects themselves.  This insight inspired me to give my GIS lecture to the work shop participants tomorrow morning. I hope they find it interesting and are not yet tired of hearing me talk.

Still to discuss from the weekend: our VIP tour of Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve and the Mango Garden Resort/Botanical Garden, as well as the Dr. Tuyen insider’s tour of all the best coffee bars in town! Wonderful hosts and I hope to see them again soon.

The students were also great, and we’re now all connected on Facebook. They invited Mr Tan and I for juice drinks one night and gave us very kind gifts (see below).

I owe another big thank you for Mr Tan, for his ongoing support and friendship. I think this would be less successful for everyone without his help.