Bicol Natural Park
Basud, Camarines Norte
The Bicol Natural Park is a protected area of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region of southern Luzon. It straddles the mountainous border between the provinces of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur in the northern interior of the Bicol Peninsula.
First declared as a national park covering 4,225 hectares on 13 February 1934 through Proclamation No. 657 of Governor General Fran ...
k Murphy, the Bicol National Park was later extended to its present area of 5,201 hectares. The area was reclassified as a natural park on 29 December 2000 by virtue of Proclamation No. 43 by President Joseph Estrada.
The Bicol Natural Park faces threats from illegal logging, firewood collection, charcoal production and human encroachment. In 1992, with the passage of the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act (NIPAS), a total of 738 families were evicted from the park and were transferred to resettlement sites in Labo and Camarines Sur.
Their houses, located mostly along the highway, were demolished and their agricultural crops and farms abandoned. However, according to a 2009 report from the Department of International Development of the United Kingdom, illegal practices and settlement still exist and only 7.6 square kilometres of the park's forest cover remains.
In 2013, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the Bicol Region ordered the park's closure to human activities with a total log ban and anti-illegal logging task force set up as part of the government's National Greening Program. The program also aims to plant 1.5 billion trees from 2011 to 2016.
Bicol Natural Park News
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Mother Tree A Giant Tree In Life
I have never seen a real giant in my life so I was excited to see the "mother tree" which is the oldest and the largest tree in Bicol Region. We need to trek for one hour going there from the highway because it is more than two kilometers away. That did not stop me from meeting this giant. There is already an established trail which is cemented but it is just about one third of the total distance. The remaining half kilometer is long a trail under a thick forest.
The jump off site going to mother tree is located at Bicol Natural Park, Maharlika Hi-way, Sitio Nalisan, Barangay Tuaca, Basud, ... -
Bicol National Park Forest Watch
I was in grade school when I first travelled the road trail of Bicol National Park, a national park bounded by Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur, stretching along the towns of Basud and San Lorenzo Ruiz then extending to Lupi and Sipocot. The road is long and winding, hence it was called as "Bitukang Manok" (translated in English as chicken intestine) by many. Young that I was, I badly suffered from motion sickness every time we pass through this road and I often find myself wishing to high heavens for this road to end and just be miraculously where we wanted to go. I had to endure these trips ...
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DENR tags Bicol forest fire damages Php20 million
The regional office for Bicol here of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has placed at Php 20 million the cost of damages inflicted on timberlands and forested agricultural areas in the region by the recent series of wildfires.
Some 2,518 hectares were affected by conflagrations that hit at least 12 areas in Albay, Camarines Sur and Sorsogon last month or days after typhoon "Glenda" hit most parts of the region, Gilbert Gonzales, the DENR regional executive director, on Tuesday said.
The first fire was in Rapu-Rapu in Albay that started on August 1 and destroyed s ... -
Bicol seen as prime beneficiary of DENRs protected areas ecotourism rule
The guidelines recently issued by the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources governing the conservation and use of protected areas with great potential for ecotourism development will primarily benefit Bicol, according to a regional official.
The guidelines issued by DENR Sec. Ramon Paje provide mechanisms toward the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in areas with ecotourism importance such as terrestrial, coastal or marine, caves and wetland ecosystems.
The DAO is very much suited to Bicol, a region seen as boundless in terms of natural wonders distributed among ... -
DENR intensifies protection for Bicol National Park
The Bicol office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here has come up with schemes to give more protection to the over-5,000 hectares forest areas of the Bicol National Park (BNP), located between Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte.
Gilbert Gonzales, DENR-Bicol regional executive director, said these strategies are aimed at protecting and preserving BNP from threats coming from illegal loggers, kaingin (slash-and burn) farmers and communities residing inside the park.
"These strategies will provide solutions to various issues that are besetting the BNP which is c ... -
Valor and adventure at CamNorte Bantayog Fest
Named after the Rizal Bantayog, the first Monument built in honor of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal in 1898, the festival will showcase CamNorte's rich cultural heritage and natural wonders, as well as its largely unexplored tourist attractions.
The province was created under the American Civil Government on April 15, 1920, separating it from Camarines Sur which used to form the Ambos Camarines province.
Celebration opens on April 14 with the tribute to local heroes at the Daet Revolt memorial monument to remember the Katipuneros who died in the uprising against Spain from April 14-18, 189 ...