Reforestation in the Philippines, Proceedings from the Fourth Pacific Science Congress, Java
- This Bureau of Forestry authored document describes reforestation efforts to recover areas degraded by shifting agriculture. A forest nursery was established in 1910 to determine best forest tree species for “artificial reforestation of cogon lands” and in areas of “second growth of no commercial importance”- 600 species were experimented with.
- The first replanting was conducted in 1916 of a denuded rocky area of 4,095 ha in Talisay-Minglanilla Friar Lands Estate in the Island of Cebu. Replanting objectives here were to: prevent erosion, minimize flood damage, wood production, “to demonstrate to the public what can be done in the way of reclaiming cogonal waste and rocky lands”. Authors note the problem of local squatters, and describe propaganda to increase public support of reforestation (working with private land owners, schools, civic organizations, Army and Navy, etc.).
- The reforestation law in 1926 appropriated P50,000 (currency) to be “expended for conservation purposes and for the location, investigation, and reforestation or afforestation, protection, administration and improvement of areas chiefly valuable as watersheds or for production of timber, rubber, quinine, and camphor, and other forest products, in order to control floods and soil erosion”.
- Authors note problems of fire and pasture: local people use grasslands for grazing and claim as private property.
- Another nursery in the Agne Valley at Ambuklao, Benguet, experimented with Benguet Pine. Another project in 1927 at Barrio Impalutao, Bukidnon, Mindanao planned to reforest 378 ha. This site also experimented with quinine, and give germination rates of 3 species with seeds sown in seed boxes and kept in shed-houses with moveable roofs and sidings.
- Includes a list of species considered useful for reforestation and as plantation crops- chart of growth records of ten of these species on p.5.
Reference:
Dacanay, P. 1929, Reforestation in the Philippines, Proceedings from the Fourth Pacific Science Congress, Java.