LUNA, Apayao – As one of the pioneering members of the Philippine Forestry Education Network Incorporated (PFEN Inc.), Apayao State College (ASC), in its clonal nursery facility found in Payanan, San Gregorio, Luna, Apayao, is now producing over 30 endemic tree species bred from seeds and wildlings.
This July, there were already about 23, 468 seedlings cloned ready for distribution. The project is a realization of the proposal submitted by PFEN Inc. to the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation (PTFCF) on establishing and managing native forest tree nursery and rainforest technology.
ASC was included among the second group of project implementers from state universities and colleges (SUCs) which received PTFCF funding, through its President, Dr. Nieves A. Dacyon, A memorandum of agreement was signed between Dr. Dacyon and PFEN Inc. for this project which is now in its second phase.
Last June 2016, PTFCF Inc. granted additional amount to expand the project and has extended its completion date until June 30, 2017. In the said expansion, Isabela State University (ISU) is the cluster head of the other member SUCs in Northern Luzon which include Kalinga State University (KSU), Ifugao State University (IfSU), Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) and ASC.
As a component of the project, a one-hectare rainforest demonstration area was established within the laboratory area and planted with 3, 154 indigenous tree seedlings from 17 families and 25 genuses. Most of these species are dipterocraps.
National Greening Program laborers and the Future Foresters Society of ASC protected and maintain the demonstration area located in San Gregorio, Luna, Apayao within the Agroforestry Laboratory area of the Forestry Department.
It also serves as an arboretum of the Forestry Department and has the potential to become part of the College’s ecotourism site aside from its utilization as laboratory area and realia for various forest biological science subjects as well as in the field of forest health and forest resources management.
By Jaylord Agpuldo