The tourist asks the tour guide as the driver gingerly weaves his air-conditioned van through the winding road dividing the wide expanse of red and white mahogany forest as they enter the ghostly light of the Loboc-Bilar forest darkened by a thick canopy of interlacing leaves. “Manmade forest in Bilar,” the guide responds, is Bilar town's response to the need to reforest barren areas as a result of “kaingin” and farmland clearings by people who sought refuge in the forests during the World War II. “So the people hid in the forest and farmed portions of the forest?” “Yes ma'am, and even in the mountainous areas all over Bohol, the people learned that kaingin leaves behind a patch of rich soil perfect for crash crops,” the guide adds. “Slash and burn then, didn't they face problems with erosion and floodings then?”
“History tells us that the problem would even be more serious than that. Even mountain springs easily dried up threatening the nearby river where a hydro-power plant is currently supplying electricity to Bohol .” “Who started this?” the husband asks, noting perhaps that the problem was traced as early as 1946 when the war ended and peace was restored. The plan to reforest took seed under then governor Conrado Marapao in 1947 and was molded stronger by then governor Jacinto Borja who found it necessary to rationalize the reforestation program for the mountain areas in Bohol , including, of course this portion. Streaks of sunlight create interesting shafts of lazer like lights drawing a kaleidoscope of patterns on the zooming windshield as trees whiz by the van's tinted windows. Then governor Jacinto Pajo in 1958 carried the seedlings of what would later be called the Loboc Watershed Reforestation Project (LWRP) to the administration of governor Esteban Bernido, which was enforced and protected during the incumbency of Governor Lino Chatto. “You said it was supposed to be a reforestation all over the mountains of Bohol , why use the name Loboc Watershed Reforestation Project?”
“Two reasons,” the guide said.
“The objective was to ensure abundant water supply the hydro-electric plant in Loboc, and the other was that to attain this, 13 towns within the watershed area would have to do its share,” he said. Launched in December 1953, LWSP consisted of 19,410 hectares including those in Lila, Loboc, Sevilla, Batuan, Carmen, Sagbayan, Catigbian, Balilihan, Sierra Bullones, Valencia, Garcia Hernandez, Jagna and its most central town-Bilar, the guide enumerated. By April of 1958, under forester Hipolito Amihan, a central nursery was established in Cambuyo Garcia Hernandez while sub-nurseries were established in every town included in the project. Later, as Garcia Hernandez is on the outer edge of the forest, the central nursery was moved to barangay Subayon in Bilar, which was later decided to be moved again to Riverside owing to the need for sustainable water supply for its potted seedlings. That same time, the management of the project was turned over to the Bureau of Forest Development, now the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Later, when the Rajah Sikatuna National Park , now Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape which occupies a big part of the LWRP, two intersecting protected areas needed to be divided.
There, the LWRP consists of nine towns with reduced areas of 10,387 hectares and RSPL owns the remaining towns with 9,023 hectares. From the nursery in Logarita at Riverside, potted seedlings were hauled in trucks and distributed to all government employees, laborers, students, scouters, pupils and socio-civic volunteers who came in droves from 1968 to late 1970's, the tour guide explained. In other areas, we hear problems of logging, do you have them here? “I'd be lying if I tell you there is no such problem here,” the guide lamely said. “But a lot of people would rather report a person to authorities especially that a no-harvesting policy is implemented here in this portion of forest since 1978.” The van eased to a tight shoulder blanketed by a thick mattress of mahogany leaves and the tourists piled out to take a few gasps of fresh forest air, posterity shots and simply savor the serenity of the forest. “Who are these people sweeping?” A male tourist at the back inquired.
“Casual workers from Bilar town Sir, these people who have benefited from the forest are now doing their share, cleaning the tourist stops.” “A plan to put up a canopy walk and adventure park within this forest would soon add more activities and fun to the experience,” the guide added. Local leaders under Bilar mayor Norman Palacio have the blue-prints unrolled a comprehensive plan for the Bilar Tourism Park development of their side of the “Trees with white markings, those were done, accordingly to keep track of trees during a recent census. The distance, and they are quite crowded if you may note, is to make a straight growth where the trees compete upwards to the most sunlight.” “I sense something odd here, no birds?” the lady tourist asks the guide. “Indeed, if there are, it would be difficult to find them,” the guide picks up the conversation. “Mahogany trees do not bear nice smelling flowers, which beckon birds or butterflies, and their fruits are inedible, so there could be no reason for birds to lose itself in the tangle of these branches, the guide pointed out. Another thing, rotting mahogany leaves on the ground are extremely acidic, often choking other new-growth plants underneath its canopy of leaves.
“Take note however,” the guide takes on the spiel while pointing to a clump of ferns, the oldest known plants, on a rock outcropping. “Those are endemic ferns, the plants that have the capacity to balance the soil acidity. These ferns actually facilitate the soil balance recovery and in no time at all, we may find other plant species, just like the way the earth was vegetated aeons ago.” “On the global effort to mitigate climate change, ladies and gentlemen, the Boholanos' humble contribution can even be more enhanced if, as we get home this afternoon, we stoop down and start planting a seedling per week and we may find out what a forest we can make in a year, the guide said.
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