TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Oct. 3 (PIA) -- As far as this year’s target for the National Greening Program (NGP), Bohol has accomplished 100% in terms of plantation establishment amid the extreme heat in the past weeks that have posed a threat to the greening program.

But this is not a reason to stop planting, said Forester Maria Lorena Castino, NGP coordinator for Bohol, during the recent Kapihan sa PIA aired live over DyTR and streamed online at PIA Bohol Facebook page.

Castino, along with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Officer in Charge for Conservation and Development Section, Forester Marcial Ugay, and NGP Forest Extension Officer Juliet Tadle said the extreme climates in the past months have impacted on the survival of the newly-planted seedlings.

The national government adopts the tree plantation establishment to help delay the effects of the changing climate.

A bush fire also hit sections of the NGP plantation in Candijay recently, raising concerns of replanting in areas where the DENR has already paid for the contracted group planting and nurturing the trees.

Castino said that from 2011 during the start of the NGP which initially eyed to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares, Bohol has a target of 32,378 hectares of vegetative cover to restore.

This year, Bohol has a target of 1,117 hectares to replant and forests to reclaim, majority of which is focused on the grass covered hills of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office Talibon.

While CENRO Tagbilaran City has already a well-covered area except for the built-up areas, CENRO Talibon owns up to 815 hectares of plantation this year, which it filled with timber, rattan, bamboo, and mangroves.

Of CENRO Tagbilaran’s target, some 302 hectares have already been accomplished, Castino reported.

Other groups here have also put up their own tree-planting projects.

The Diocese of Tagbilaran has a continuing program on nature-nurture activities in response to the call of the Seasons of Creation.
While most of the said groups coordinate with the DENR for their tree-planting activities, Ugay advised them to get fruit bearing trees instead of the usual exotic species that do not blend well with environment.

With fruit bearing trees, birds feed on them and they carry the seeds elsewhere, naturally dispersing them and spreading the biodiversity, according to Ugay.

As for the seedlings, aside from the DENR nurseries located in strategic areas in Bohol, there is a facility owned by the Provincial Government in the Bohol Biodiversity Complex in Bilar town.

Created under the Bohol Environment Ordinance, the Bohol Biodiversity Complex is a center dedicated to the study and propagation of Bohol’s endemic tree species.

It has an extensive dipterocarp nursery and a seed bank that has an impressive inventory of native tree species as needed. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)