“Save” Sierra Madre Mountain Range? We Have To Do More Than Save – We Have To “Conserve” The Resources!
(“Save Sierra” from Anamarie Ribunal
Garcia, Facebook)
I'm from Pangasinan (Asingan); it surprises me that only the
post from my province’s PDRRMO is being shared – Pangasinan is more
environmentally aware than the other PDRRMOs? Another surprise: The sharer
Anamarie is from my hometown! Meaning: Pangasinan is far from the Sierra Madre
Mountain Range but we Pangasinenses are more conservation-conscious than the 10
other provinces actually located along the Sierra Madre Range: Aurora, Bulacan,
Cagayan, Isabela, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Nueva
Vizcaya, Quezon, Quirino, and Rizal. Wake up, Sierra Madre Rip Van Winkle people!
And yes, on Facebook, Rea
Reyes Dizon shares (yes, she is from Pampanga, which is not in the range
list): “Sierra Madre Mountain, known as ‘Luzon’s backbone’ acts as nature’s
shield against super-typhoon Karding!” Now then, like Ms Rea, this essay from
me should wake up those 10 Sierra Madre provinces from their self-induced stupor!
Also on Facebook, the UPLB Forestry Society says it “stands in
solidarity with the nationwide call to ‘Save Sierra Madre’” (26 Sept 2022).
With
its long history, the Sierra Madre Mountain Range is habituated by native
Filipinos, native plant species especially trees – and “handled” by native
methods of cultivating the hillsides, as well as modern methods of
logging. How conservation-conscious are the practices? Above, as we can see
from the lower image, the Sierra Madre is hardly being conserved at all.
The yellowish color of the mountains reflects much lack of vegetation!
(Sierra Madre photograph taken in 2017,
from traveltothephilippines.info)
(I was Editor In Chief of the Forest Research Institute (FORI), 1975-1981; I visited Taggat Industries, loggers, in Cagayan,
for an article in Habitat, color
magazine of FORI. I didn’t explore the area, so I didn’t know how good was
Taggat in “Selective Logging,” the conservation mandate at that time.)
What
I'm trying to say is this: “If you want to save the Sierra Madre, you have to
pursue Resource Conservation. You
cannot have a Healthy Planet without Healthy People without Healthy Planet
Practices.
To conserve, not simply save the Sierra Madre, I recommend these:
(1)
Farmers
along the range, natives or not – Practice agroforestry and not any “slash-and-burn-and
plant” method. They must see to it that the hillsides are constantly covered
with organic matter where they are growing their crops.
(2) Loggers along the range, big and small,
practice conservation – Follow the precepts of “Selective Logging,” which
allows the cutting down of only certain mature trees with a minimum diameter at
breast height.
What
I want to say is that agriculture as practiced on the Sierra Madre must follow principles
of Regenerative Agriculture. Thus:
Keeping soil covered with different crops, including trees. Applying zero
chemical fertilizers and pesticides!@517
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