San Luis, Aurora - Forestry

Forestry

• Forest Resources

The municipality has the largest woodland area among the eight municipalities of the province. About 48,738 ha or 78% of its total land area are classified forest. Of this total forest cover, 5,058 ha are Virgin Forest (Dp 31 & Dp 32), 28,043 ha, Residual Forest (Dp2), 811 ha Sub- marginal Forest (SM), and 14,826 ha Mossy Forest (MO).

Other minor forest products found in the forestlands of San Luis include hagnaya, nito, rattan, sabutan, coco-midrib, banban and lukmoy. These minor forest products are growing abundantly in the area and are major sources of raw materials for the production of various handy crafts.

• Wildlife Resources

The biologically rich Sierra Madre Mountain covers a large segment of the land area of the municipality of San Luis. Various species of birds, including the Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga Jefferyi) were observe and identified in the area (Philippine Biodiversity Inventory, 1997). Wild animals such as wild boars, deer’s, monkeys, etc. also thrive in the area.

The existing Aurora Memorial National Park, the only legally proclaimed park in the Province of Aurora, is partly within the jurisdiction of the municipality of San Luis. This park is extremely rich in biodiversity the Philippine Eagle are sighted in the place several times. These birds are believed regularly stay in the most remote section of the park. The area has a great potential as an eco-tourism destination for both local and international tourists whose interests are the observation of the place natural beauty.

• Watershed Resources

There were 70 watershed groups composed of 303 individual watersheds identified in the province of Aurora. Of this number, eleven (11) are found within the municipality of San Luis. Portions of some of these watersheds are found within the neighboring municipalities of Baler, Maria Aurora and Dingalan.

About 53% of the watersheds of San Luis have slopes of more than 50%, The watersheds with the largest and smallest area of more than 50% slopes are Dibut and Dibalo/Pingit/Zabali/Malayat, respectively. In terms of forest cover, the municipality has an average forest cover of 67%. The most forest-depleted watersheds are that of Dibalo/Pingit/Malayat and San Luis, while with still good forest cover (90%) are Dimanayat and Dikapinisan watersheds.

Hill farming activities are found in these watersheds. Logging roads density is high. The most dense watersheds in terms of the presence of logging roads are Dikapinisan watershed.

The watersheds of Diteki, Dikapinisan, Watershed no. 56, and Dikapinisan has an average critical watershed index of 0.34, meaning the erosion levels, deforestation, hill farming and logging roads combined indicate a relatively low risk of environmental damage. The rest of the watersheds are classified under the moderately low risk to cause environmental damage in the short-term.