JHMC program to protect John Hay forest reservation

By Melody Browner

BAGUIO CITY -- -- The John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC), the management arm of the state-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in the John Hay Special Economic Zone (JHSEZ) and John Hay Reservation Area (JHRA) announced  it is strengthening its forest management program to mitigate the effects of climate change.

JHMC president and CEO Jamie Eloise M. Agbayani said the global phenomenon of climate change is real and the effects are catastrophic if not checked. “Baguio is not immune to the ill effects of climate change which include drought, flooding, water-borne and drought-borne diseases, landslides, forest fires, pest infestation, and ultimately the irreparable destruction of the bio-diversity of an area,” she said.

She added protecting and preserving the forest in the JHSEZ and the JHRA play a key role in sustaining the balance of the various species both flora and fauna or the bio-diversity in the area. The John Hay forest covers 30 percent of the entire forest land of Baguio.

Agbayani said JHMC has taken additional measures to maintain John Hay’s forest density, clean air and water resources for the benefit of the people of Baguio.

According to Agbayani,  the JHMC personnel and its Forest Rangers have been deputized as DENR Officers (DENROs) and are authorized to apprehend illegal tree cutting activities in the Camp John Hay Reservation.  

They patrol the Camp to protect and preserve more than 30% of the forest cover of the City of Baguio. 

She said planting of additional 13,600 pine tree seedlings, and harvesting of some 136 dead and pest-infested Benguet pines that will prevent the spread of disease to healthy trees, both contribute to good forest management.

JHMC chairman Silvestre C. Afable Jr.  said that  “JHMC has gone a step further in ensuring the health of the pine trees by engaging the services of a Forest Pathologist who will evaluate the overall condition of the forest”. He explained that the pathologist will provide a strategic plan to abate the infestation with Ipscalligraphus, a bark beetle, and the means by which these challenges can be met institutionally.

JHMC secured the permit from the DENR to cut the pest-infested dead pine trees. The Sanitation Cutting and Pruning Permit was granted by the DENR last July 17.

Since 2012, JHMC has established and maintained community-based fire lines covering an area of 69,320 square meters in at least six barangays in the John Hay Reservation to prevent the spread of forest fire and further intensified its forest management program in support of the National Greening Program of the Aquino administration.