THE Zamboanga City Government spearheaded a bamboo planting activity to prevent riverbank soil erosion and to improve the quality of water in a watershed in the city.
Mayor John Dalipe led the bamboo planting activity in Sitio Fortunato, La Paz village Friday, March 24, as part of the City Government’s ongoing efforts on massive reforestation, rehabilitation, and enrichment of the watershed areas.
The bamboo planting activity covered 2.5 kilometers of forest land within the 40-meter riparian zone of the Ayala River with 500 bamboo trees and 150 Nato trees planted.
“Planting was done on both sides of the Ayala River with 10 meters distance interval,” Engr. Reynaldo Gonzales, Office of the City Environment and Natural Resources chief, said.
Gonzales said the bamboo planting within the riparian zone of Ayala River will prevent riverbank soil erosion and will improve the quality of water, which are among the strategies in the approved Management and Development Plan of the Ayala watershed and the Forest Land Use Plan (Flup) of Zamboanga City.
Measuring 3,347.36 hectares, the Ayala watershed covers seven villages -- Ayala, Baluno, Cawit, Dulian-Upper Pasonanca, Pamucutan, La Paz and Labuan.
Gonzales said the bamboo planting activity is also in compliance with the approved city's action plan for Ayala River Water Quality Management Area under the Philippine Clean Air Act of 2004.
Some 400 people representing the different agencies and stakeholders participated in the activity which also sets the stage for the Dalipe administration’s goal of planting one million trees within his first term. (SunStar Zamboanga)