Recovery of tree species and non-timber forest products after shifting cultivation at Ben En National Park

Abstract

Forest recovery after shifting cultivation is an issue that has been concerned by many international and national organizations. In Ben En National Park, there are residential areas living in the park, so the shifting cultivation has existed many years ago and the fallow area is also relatively large. Therefore, it is essential to assess the recovery and diversity of timber tree species and NTFPs after fallow periods. In the scope of this project, the ability to recover forests after slash-and-burn fallow has been conducted in 3 phases: 14 - 15 years; 19 - 20 years and 24 - 25 years. The results show that the composition of tree species incresed the number of timber species, after the fallow of 14 - 15 years, the number of tree species was 58 species, 80 species were counted after 19 - 20 years and period 24 -25 years with 105 species. In total 164 species were found, of which, there have been 38 species providing non-timber forest products, including 26 species using fruit and 12 species using leaves. In particular, the Cinamomum blansae is the only species that can use all parts to distill the essential oil. The majority of species (117 species) can use their wood for making household appliances, 23 species can use their parts for spice, 3 species can be used for medicine and only 1 species for oil. The number of regenerated tree species has also increased significantly in the first 2 stages, of which there are 55 species counted in the 14 - 15 year period, in which 95 species were found in the 19 - 20 year period. The total number of regenerated tree species in all 3 stages was 144 species. In particular, there are some light demanding species that no longer appear in the 24 - 25 year period, many shade tolerant and shade-tolerant plants have begun to appear. Among regenerated tree species, there are also up to 30 species providing non timber forest products, including 4 species for medicinal products, 5 species for resin, 6 species for products of flavoring, the rest is to provide products for spices and food. Used parts of tree regeneration are also remarkably diverse such as stem, leaf, bark, fruit and seed