Road Construction
One of the main things that harms the forest and the butterfly population is the road construction in the area. Tam Dao is a bit remote - like most National Parks tend to be. People in Vietnam are always trying to find ways to make money and tourism is more popular now that it was in the past. Above Tam Dao Hill Station there are bamboo forests and evergreen deciduous forests - the sort of trees that don't lose their leaves in winter. The hills are what attract local tourists (mostly not international ones), so in order to increase popularity to tourists and give them better access to the mountains, new roads are being constructed. Notice the 'three peaks' of Tam Dao in the photo. You can see why tourists would want to come here - it is a lovely, peaceful place.
It takes a very long time to construct roads - so long that workers commit to a job for 2 years and live on site - in this type of housing. This is a residence for road workers - they have hose that siphons water from a mountain stream and runs to a large concrete barrel (in the front of the photo) where they get water to wash themselves and their clothing. It wasn't clear if they also drink this water but I wouldn't be surprised. Workers like these jobs because they are able to work for 31 days a month and make $100 a month - a good wage in Vietnam. They also gain skills like driving a front loader and back hoe, steam roller and other heavy machinery - which is not good for the forest or butterflies.
posted by Bonnie at 3:15 AM
1 Comments:
Good questions. There are 6 transects - three of them are along the 'new road' two others are in the old road area and in the farms and one is the bamboo forest. Each area display different numbers of butterflies. I will post a few pictures of the various habitats so you can see the difference - very good questions indeed.
The reason that the road construction affects butterflies is mainly in the destruction of their habitat - not only are construction workers taking down portions of the forest, but also in the methods they use, workers are not really sensitive to the ecology. There is little education here in the general public as to proper methods of things - all sorts of things - not only construction but even waste disposal. You would be shocked at the amount of trash everywhere along the old and new road. These people, bless them, just don't have an awareness of how their disposal behaviors affect the environment.
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