Name: Rewilding Ipo Watershed through Community Empowerment
Address: San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Bulacan

Overview

The project site is located inside Ipo Watershed, a watershed reservation in Norzagaray and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan and partly in Rodriguez, Rizal. This watershed is part of the large system which includes Umiray, Angat and La Mesa that supplies water to 98% of Metro Manila. One of the mountains on the border of the Watershed is Mount Balagbag, this will be the site of the reforestation and community empowerment activities of the project.

Proclamation No. 391 of 1968 declares Ipo Watershed as a watershed reservation. It also separated Ipo Watershed from Angat Watershed and placed it under the joint management of DENR and MWSS. On the side of DENR, CENRO of Guiginto, Bulacan handles the monitoring of activities including reforestation in Mount Balagbag. Ipo watershed is also protected through RA 7586 or NIPAS Act of 1992 as amended by RA 11098 or ENIPAS Act of 2018.

Detailed Information

Details of The Project

The project site is part of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan but is accessed through Macabud, Rodriguez, Rizal. The reforestation site is North-East of the summit of Mt.Balagbag. The highest point of the area is approximately 650-700 masl and the lowest point is approximately 500 masl.

The reforestation site is part of a 50 ha graduated NGP (National Greening Program) site. According to the report on the assessment of CENRO Guiginto (March 2020), the survival rate of the seedlings was 36.47% and also noted the stunted growth of the seedlings.

The area adopted by the proponent covers 30 hectares of the graduated NGP site. According to the assessment of the CENRO of Guiginto, Bulacan, the area is dominated by weeds, shrubs and vines and experiences environmental hazards such as extreme exposure to sunlight and gusty winds. They also concluded that the soil is acidic leading to high mortality rate of seedlings and stunted growth. Also based on the assessment, the three dominant species of trees are Narra (Pterocarpus indicus), Kupang (Parkia javanica) and Palosanto (Triplaris cumingiana).

Ipo Watershed is a vital link in Metro Manila’s water supply chain from the watershed system of Umiray to Angat, Ipo and La Mesa. This system supplies fresh water to 98% of Metro Manila’s over 13 Million residents. The watershed has deteriorated due to deforestation and timber poaching. The degradation of the watershed is a threat to water security for Metro Manila because it has a) decreased water production or drying up of headwaters, b) decreased water reservoir capacity due to buildup of siltation and has caused c) difficulty in water filtration during rainy season because of murky water. The restoration of surrounding forests is therefore critical to the regulated supply of water for Metro Manila.

Ipo Watershed, being part of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, is an important habitat of rich biodiversity. The site used to be a lowland Dipterocarp forest and habitat to an abundance of birds and small mammals such as wild pigs. Forest protection is needed to preserve what is still left and reforestation with appropriate native trees will hopefully bring back a healthy and rich watershed and overall biodiversity.

The proponent, as of December 2021, has successfully propagated over 30 native species of trees from seed and wildling through the Forest Rangers and reforested an initial 10 hectares in its first year. Maintenance efforts for seedlings planted and invasive species management are regularly conducted. Weekly patrolling is also conducted for their forest protection efforts. In succeeding years, more areas are expected to be reforested and protected through the proponent’s efforts, empowering and working with Forest Rangers providing green jobs to supplement livelihood whilst at the same time achieving objectives in forest conservation and restoration.