Pangasinan will have own arboretum
MANGATAREM—The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) based in Dagupan City recently launched its arboretum, a botanical garden of trees, in this town to remind Pangasinenses to love and care for indigenous trees in their neighborhood.
Celso Salazar, community environment and natural resources officer in Dagupan City under whose jurisdiction the project was made, told The PUNCH that the arboretum, is being put up at a three-hectare portion of the sprawling Manleluag Spring Protected Landscape in this town managed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Salazar said the decision to establish the arboretum was arrived at because of realization that native tree species are slowly vanishing.
“We are putting up the arboretum under the National Greening Program (NGP) to make people aware that our country used to be so blessed with these trees,”
Salazar said.
One of the plans is to plant golden shower trees to outline the perimeter to make it visible and identifiable to air travelers because of its flowers.
Expected to be planted in the area are 50 different indigenous tree species. Each hectare of land is to be planted with 200 saplings, about one meter or taller in height to ensure greater chance of survival.
In all, about 600 saplings will be planted in the three-hectare lot.
During its launching on Sep. 5, the Maritime Group in Dagupan City and the Salvation Army volunteers were invited to take part in the tree planting.
Each native tree planted shall have a tag that bears its common and scientific names and the benefits it gives. “It’s like having an ID and it shall be e-tagged with each tree being photographed so that one can easily locate it through Google map,” Salazar said.
Salazar said under the NGP, the planting of native/endemic trees that best thrive in specific region/province/municipality would be planted through an established arboretum for every PENRO.
“This is a wake- up call that we need to bring back our native tree species,” Salazar said.
The arboretum will serve as a showcase of important economic plants in a particular place as major sources of food, building materials, clothing and medicine of the indigenous/local communities. The arboretum also serves as demonstration sites for ecotourism and educational purposes for students and local citizenry and sources of seeds plus trees.
The Manleluag Park was converted into a protected landscape area in 2004 and now has a total area of 1,935.17 hectares and a buffer zone area of 965.09 hectares. It is one of only two protected areas in Pangasinan, the other being the Hundred Islands National Park in Alaminos City. (Tita Roces)
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