LAOAG CITY — Incessant rains and strong winds brought by the southwest monsoon did not stop youth volunteers and members of non-government organizations from pushing through with a massive tree planting activity over the weekend.
As part of the International Youth Day celebration in the province, some 500 people planted 3,000 seedlings near watersheds and some idle lots previously hit by grassfire in the towns of Carasi, Vintar and Pasuquin.
Estrella Sacro, project manager of the Barangay Ranger Officers under the Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO), said this rainy season, thousands of tree saplings are being distributed by their office to various schools and public and private organizations that are willing to plant more trees.
Among the latest recipients, she said, were student groups, police personnel and 4-H Club who braved the stormy weather and climbed the mountains to plant indigenous tree saplings in some barren areas of the province.
Senior Provincial Board Member Matthew Joseph Manotoc said the tree-planting activity “clearly manifests the youth’s concern in protecting the environment.”
He expressed hope this effort will be sustained for a greener and progressive province.
Over the last three years since the “Green Wall” project of Ilocos Norte was launched, the provincial government has sustained the hiring of Barangay Ranger Officers (BRO) from the mountainous part of the province to propagate mostly indigenous species of trees and plant them. These are now the ones being distributed to interested groups that are helping in the greening of the province’s idle lots.
It may be recalled that the Green Wall initially received a PHP60-million fund to protect dams and irrigation facilities in the province. These include the major sources of water in Ilocos Norte particularly in the municipalities of Solsona, Marcos, Nueva Era, Dingras, Vintar and the cities of Batac and Laoag City.
Last year, the ENRO reported that about 8,000 hectares of forest lands have been rehabilitated under the project. (Leilanie Adriano/PNA)
