BANGUED, Abra(PIA)-- A total of 19,380 seedlings were planted in  95 hectares in the province last year, in line with the Forest Development Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“The 19,380 seedlings produced were distributed to various agencies and organizations for their tree planting activities, and some were used during the Community Plant-tree, one of the activities of PENRO in June, and other tree planting activities led by DENR”, April Bello of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resource Office (PENRO)-Abra said.

The tree planting activities support the National Greening Program (NGP), and reforestation activities of DENR.

“On forest development of DENR, which include the National Greening Program and reforestation activities, a total of 95 hectares were planted last year with various seedlings,” she explained.

Aside from the seedlings, DENR-Abra also established four units small water impounding system  to  supply water in NGP areas ensuring the growth and maintenance of the trees  planted.

To further ensure that the province stays green, DENR also implemented confiscation of illegal lumbers as part of its forest protection mandate.

“On forest protection, the office was able to apprehend a total of 5,574.786 board feet of forest products, so we thank our partner agencies especially the PNP and the Army for support to our forest protection initiative,” Bello said.

The confiscated  forest products were donated to  the Department of Education, the Philippine NP and some other offices which were used for chairs, tables and for their office improvements, she shared.   

Since 2014, more than 16,000 board feet of apprehended forest products were   donated and put to good use by various offices in Abra.

 The DENR  has established 13 monitoring stations in the province to safeguard the forests from illegal activities and forest fires. (CAGT – PIA CAR, Abra)