Tibaldo: Watersheds, eco parks and nearby places of interests

BAGUIO City and nearby areas, such as La Trinidad and Tuba of Benguet, have interesting places that one go, walk through and spend a few moments not only for a breather but enjoy the scenes and commune with nature. I have marked several of these eco parks as a Google map local guide and this has become one of my recent pastimes.

The Busol watershed that covers part of Baguio and La Trinidad is one of the most visited places especially during our media programs touring lucky summer visitors and tree planting activities. I also noted the

placement of Peace Poles that were planted in various areas like an acupuncture meant to spread the true meaning of peace among earthlings with a gesture to heal the earth. A Peace Pole according to its originator is a hand-crafted monument that displays the message and prayer "May Peace Prevail on Earth on each of its four or six sides and such poles can be seen at the heart of Busol Watershed and Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary.

One place that I have documented in the past is the Philippine Bambusetum near the Voice of America gate along Loakan Road. Various species of bamboo taken from many parts of the globe can be seen there and I have seen varied colors too including one with black culms. This place is like a living museum for bamboos that also offers forest bathing as you trek under the shades of bamboo and pine trees once you get to this place. It is likewise a nature hub and once you coordinate with the DENR personnel in-charge of the facility, they will gladly tour you around and educate you further on the various bamboo species and what this plant can provide to the environment.

The Kawayanan eco park of Francis Xavier Seminary in Liteng Pacdal is probably the only place in Baguio where bamboo industry is widely grown promising sufficient supply of quality raw materials needed for establishing a bamboo-based enterprise. Philippine Bamboo Foundation President Edgardo Manda who invited a number of entrepreneurs in 2018 said that bamboo products represent a global market worth billions of US Dollar and we are so blessed to have the resources to grow just about anything from crops to forest. This bamboo park is not often visited by regular tourists and even locals because it is a bit located in the outskirts of the city. The place however is made interesting as a destination for nature lovers as it has a plantation of varied types of bamboo. It is also an ideal place for meditation and forest bathing.

However, on November 9, 2020, Mr. Manda, who helps take care of the Kawayanan, posted a notice and appeal, saying that they are temporarily closing the bamboo eco-park due to vandalism. Accordingly, some visitors do not respect the place and have defaced bamboo culms (or poles) by engraving their names and relieving themselves along the pathway.

One government agency that truly deserves to be recognized and given merit for helping improve the agricultural industry of the country is the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Department of Agriculture in Guisad.

The researchers, scientists and agricultural technologists of this facility are the silent heroes that help advance the research and development of the agricultural sector. Just this Saturday, I went there just to take file video shots of their coffee berries that are ready for harvesting.

One place in Baguio that is being spruced up is the Mirador Hill Eco Park where you can breathe fresh clean air and flex your muscles and the place is just near the Lourdes Grotto. Here, you can take selfies with distant landscapes as a backdrop but it is best to explore this place wearing rubber soled shoes. Bamboo sticks are available as walking cane at the entrance near the guard post.

The Buyog Watershed that can be seen along Bokawkan Road is one of the protected areas of the Baguio Regreening Movement, a multi-sectoral body with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Forestry Sector as its Secretariat. In the mid 90's, I brought a group from my

Mass Communication class for a pictorial at said place when the planted trees were mostly waist high. In 2008, I again led a smaller group of environment conscious social media users and we called our event EBOTOAH or eyeball on top of a hill. There are other interesting places around and you can check it in the places that I marked in Google Map.

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