ISABELA

Despite logging, Isabela virgin forests still intact, says DENR
BY JOAN CAPUNA

ILAGAN, Isabela – Despite rampant illegal logging all over the province, Isabela has maintained its forest cover at 230,000 hectares, which make it still among the biggest forest areas in the country.

There were also more than 40,000 hectares of second growth forest, which were then the subject of large-scale logging concessions during the 1960s. Together, there were 300,000 hectares of forest cover in the province.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources scored big against illegal loggers with the confiscation of some P500,000 worth of illegally cut lumber abandoned along the Pinacanauan River here last week.

Forester Felix Taguba, provincial environment and natural resources officer here, said the recovery of the forest cover here is a result of the concerted efforts of various government agencies and non-government organizations of reforest the once-denuded forest cover of the province.

Taguba said the provincial environment and natural; resources officer here has con tenuously maintained a nursery to service the needs of this ongoing reforestation effort, which has gained the support of other government agencies and non-government organizations.

The said nursery had also been helpful in filing the requirement of the provincial DENR office in connection with the Department’s Green Philippines Highway program with its area of jurisdiction.

Taguba said this recovery of forest cover is not immediately noticeable in the western side of the Sierra Madre where the bulk of the population is located, what with the seemingly rampant illegal logging going on.

But along the remote pacific coast, on the Sierra Madre’s eastern side, the achievement of the recovery efforts could more fully appreciated, he added.

“The heavy pressure (of the population) is on the western side of the Sierra Madre Ranges, which is where most of the illegal logging is taking place. But if you go to the eastern side along the Pacific coast of Isabela, you will see the effect of what several decades of replanting have done,” Taguba said. “Now, it’s no exaggeration to say that if a plane falls along the eastern side of Isabela, one can’t easily trace it anymore.”

The reforestation efforts were also a result of the creation of the Northern Sierra Madre Biological Corridor along the northern side of the Sierra Madre as a area of protected plants and wildlife.

Taguba said hundreds of species of flora and fauna within the said Bio-Corridor are considered to be highly and endangered. “This is why the area is considered one of the world’s ecological hotspots,” he added.

Meanwhile, Taguba said the confiscation of some 5,799 board feet of prime narra lumber by elements of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Naguillan town last week showed the department’s determination to maintain and protect the forest cover of the country’s second largest province.

Narra, the national tree, is one of the tree species banned from being commercially logged due to its few remaining standing trees and the relatively long time to replenish.

The narra flitches were found abandoned along the banks of the Pincanauan River in Barangay Allingigan here, which is a traditional woodworking site.

“The wood was abandoned along Pinacanauan River where some of our men chanced upon them. Nobody questioned our action despite many people found along the riverbanks,” Raguba said.

The confiscation took place more than a week after Gov. Grace Padaca announced the relaunching of her administration’s campai8gn against illegal logging and all other environmental hazards with the help of the DENR, the Army and the police here.

The confiscated lumber haul, said to be the biggest so far this month and one of the biggest since the start of the year, is not part of the joint team efforts of the provincial government and the other government agencies.

But it may still be considered as a contribution towards the provincial government’s goal of stopping illegal logging or timber poaching.