Post by admin on Aug 28, 2014 8:52:55 GMT 8
Vegetable gardens invading Mt. Pulag; watershed destruction feared
Zaldy Comanda
August 27, 2014
Photo caption: FROM PINE TREES TO VEGGIES – A patch of land at the foot of Mount Pulag in Bokod, Benguet, has been cleared of pine trees to give way to vegetable gardens, a scenario which, along withcontinuous illegal logging, has alarmed local authorities. (Zaldy Comanda)
Bokod, Benguet – Suddenly, vegetable gardens are on the slopes of Mount Pulag.
Local government officials here have expressed fear on the possible destruction of the Naubanan watershed below Mt. Pulag here due to nonstop illegal logging and conversion of land to vegetable gardens.
“We cannot do anything to stop them because they cut trees in the evening, and plow the soil with a small backhoe using the cover of the night. In the morning, we are just surprised with the presence of gardens and even roads,” Bokod Mayor Mauricio Macay said.
A large portion of the 10-hectare watershed, found at the foot of the country’s second highest peak, used to be thick forests in Barangay Ekip here, but human invasion via slash-and-burn activities have damaged the green cover. The patch of land is now a vegetable garden.
A recent visit in the area revealed numerous felled pine trees still scattered on the ground, some of them charred when the mountain was set on fire.
Macay feared that the environmentally destructive activities would adversely affect the water source of the municipality, adding to the same worry of Governor Nestor Fongwan that Mt. Pulag will soon become a vegetable summit.
Mt. Pulag is famous for the view of the sunrise amid a sea of clouds at 9,587 feet above sea level.
Last month, the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office charged three persons with violation of the forestry code. The mayor alleged that violators are from the town of Buguias, Benguet and Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya, who had claimed to have bought land in the area or have acquired land via ancestral domain.
Even so, land conversion is still rampant.
Last week, Fongwan led the inauguration of the “highest police station” — near the Forest Ranger Station — to aid in combating land conversion and forest degradation, and to assist mountain hikers who arrive all year round.
Source: www.mb.com.ph/vegetable-gardens-invading-mt-pulag-watershed-destruction-feared/
Zaldy Comanda
August 27, 2014
Photo caption: FROM PINE TREES TO VEGGIES – A patch of land at the foot of Mount Pulag in Bokod, Benguet, has been cleared of pine trees to give way to vegetable gardens, a scenario which, along withcontinuous illegal logging, has alarmed local authorities. (Zaldy Comanda)
Bokod, Benguet – Suddenly, vegetable gardens are on the slopes of Mount Pulag.
Local government officials here have expressed fear on the possible destruction of the Naubanan watershed below Mt. Pulag here due to nonstop illegal logging and conversion of land to vegetable gardens.
“We cannot do anything to stop them because they cut trees in the evening, and plow the soil with a small backhoe using the cover of the night. In the morning, we are just surprised with the presence of gardens and even roads,” Bokod Mayor Mauricio Macay said.
A large portion of the 10-hectare watershed, found at the foot of the country’s second highest peak, used to be thick forests in Barangay Ekip here, but human invasion via slash-and-burn activities have damaged the green cover. The patch of land is now a vegetable garden.
A recent visit in the area revealed numerous felled pine trees still scattered on the ground, some of them charred when the mountain was set on fire.
Macay feared that the environmentally destructive activities would adversely affect the water source of the municipality, adding to the same worry of Governor Nestor Fongwan that Mt. Pulag will soon become a vegetable summit.
Mt. Pulag is famous for the view of the sunrise amid a sea of clouds at 9,587 feet above sea level.
Last month, the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office charged three persons with violation of the forestry code. The mayor alleged that violators are from the town of Buguias, Benguet and Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya, who had claimed to have bought land in the area or have acquired land via ancestral domain.
Even so, land conversion is still rampant.
Last week, Fongwan led the inauguration of the “highest police station” — near the Forest Ranger Station — to aid in combating land conversion and forest degradation, and to assist mountain hikers who arrive all year round.
Source: www.mb.com.ph/vegetable-gardens-invading-mt-pulag-watershed-destruction-feared/