BUTUAN CITY, Sept. 22 (PIA) – The office of the Environment and Natural Resources of Agusan del Norte is now ready for the conduct of the TreeVolution: Greening MindaNOW activity on September 26.
During the briefing and updates on the preparation for the conduct of the big event on Friday, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources (PENRO) officer Paterno Olivera said that PENRO is now ready for the big event. Site validations are being conducted and the volunteer planters of different schools and stewards will be briefed before the conduct of the event, he said.
PENRO Olivera further said that during the event, volunteer planters are required to bring their own digging tools, water and food in their assigned planting areas. Tree planting will simultaneously start at exactly 8:30 in the morning and will end at exactly 9:30.
“Planters are required to plant 20 seedlings within the period of one hour,” Olivera said.
“The PENRO Agusan del Norte has targeted a total of 25 hectares to be planted during the conduct of the TreeVolution. The 16 hectares are located in barangay Maug and the other nine hectares in Tungao, all in Butuan City,” Olivera added.
Also, Forester Rodel Mendez of PENRO Agusan del Norte revealed that rain tree or acacia specie is included to be planted in their identified planting sites. “Seedlings for planting during the TreeVolution are sufficient and now ready,” he said.
Mendez also said that different signages will be posted and visible to the different planting sites during the conduct of the event. Wristbands and identifications (IDs) will also be provided to the volunteer planters, stewards, and others involved in the event.
Also, Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of Tubay in Agusan del Norte headed by Forester Vince A. Estopito has identified a total of 75 hectares to be planted with falcata and rubber seedlings during the conduct of TreeVolution. According to Forester Achilles Ebron, the 38 hectares are located in the municipality of Kitcharao; 30 in RTR; and five hectares in Cabadbaran City.
In areas identified by CENRO Tubay, volunteer planters of Kitcharao will plant 11,500 falcata and 3,000 rubber seedlings; 16,000 falcata seedlings in RTR; and another 10,000 falcata seedlings in Cabadbaran City.
Forester Norman Asugan of CENRO Nasipit also revealed that as to the seedling preparation status to be planted to the 107.7 hectares total area covered by CENRO Nasipit, seedlings were already delivered to the sites.
Meanwhile, Caraga area manager of Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Cecilia D. Trinio also said during the briefing and updates that, on the event day, the volunteer planters are required to wear white shirts (short or long sleeves), yellow for stewards and orange for the medics.
During the briefing, Regional Technical Director (RTD) Maritess Ocampo of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) who will have the direct supervision of the ENROs identified sites during the event upon knowing preparations of the ENRO offices express her gratitude to the concerned personnel. “I am glad that you are gone this far in your preparation for the big event, I am hoping that we will be successful in our aim to break the record of India on September 26,” RTD Ocampo said.
The TreeVolution: Greening MindaNOW initiative supports the National Greening Program of the government that targets 1.5 million hectares reforested by 2016 to which Mindanao’s contribution is 456,000 hectares. - PIA