San Roque Dam: New eco-tourism destination
AN AVERAGE of 5,000 visitors monthly have been trooping to the San Roque Multi-purpose Project (SRMP) and the number is expected to increase with the introduction of eco-tourism attractions in the area.
Tommy Valdez, vice president for corporate social responsibility of the San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC), said majority of the visitors so far have been students on study tours at the SRMP, considered as the second highest dam in Asia and 11th in the world.
But the SRMP located in San Manuel town is also being developed as an eco-tour destination and a model for watershed conservation.
Last March 14, a cruise boat was launched by former President Fidel Ramos, under whose term the SRMP was initiated, for trips around the reservoir.
“Where else can you see such majestic beauty, except by making a trip to the dam,” said Valdez during the KBP forum last week.
The ferry cruise will be used to deliver the message how people can help in the conservation and protection of the Agno River watershed.
At the same time, the ferry cruise will used by the mountain communities in Itogon, Benguet, located north east of the dam, to transport their produce to markets in San Manuel and Binalonan.
BIRD WATCHING
Valdez said an eco-trail that cuts through forest areas and reforestation sites where seedlings are being planted, is now open for hikers and bird-watchers.
The Bird Conservation project at SRMP started several years ago with the help of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP), that has so far identified 65 bird species in the area, nine of which are considered endangered.
The club has also sighted a flock of some 3,000 birds indigenous in the area.
The SRPC has also partnered with the Philippine Eagle Foundation last year to assess the potential of the Cordillera and Caraballo mountains as habitats for the Philippine Eagle.
A study by the group shows that the Philippine Eagle can be raised around the Agno watershed and there is now a plan to trans-locate two eagles from the Eagle Center in Davao City to San Roque in the next two years.
“If we can do that, the Philippine Eagle will become the rallying point in watershed protection, which means that we have to protect the watershed in order to protect the birds” he said.
San Nicolas, one of the towns around the dam, celebrated its first “Eagle Festival” last month.
The SRMP now boasts of a “tree library”, a collection of 45 kinds of trees, many of which are extinct, that will be expanded soon to include a botanical garden.
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