Let's Plant Trees to Save and Protect Our Environment/Town

by Bart Concepcion

Kakabsat idulin yo pay laeng iti apagbiit dayta cell phone yo ket alaen yo ketdi tay barreta ta mapan tayo pay agmula ti kayo. Let’s plant trees to save and protect our environment and our town. When I was still studying in DCUMS, well, that was a long time ago, but not that long  he he, I never experienced or seen our town flooded when we had a heavy  rains or storm. Ita laeng nga malay-layos.  Idi ket diay asideg laeng ti waig wenno diay karayan no sobra ti danum nga aggapo ti surong.  Now when it rains hard almost the whole  town is flooded. Can you just imagine the damage done to properties?

Why don’t we do some cleaning up once a year and call it “Magsingal Clean Up Day”, before the rainy season comes.  It may not solve the problem of flooding but it will certainly help the water to recede faster.  Clear up the river and other water ways nga inaramid tayo nga pagbasuraan.  Everyone should get involved, total pare-pareho naman tayo nga maapektohan no aglayos. And let’s start planting trees especially along the river banks to stop soil erosion, nga manggabur daguitay waterways tayo.

Our mahogany plants on the picture were planted only 5 years ago in our place in Quimmalapao. They grow very fast as long as you look after them.  The spot where the plants are growing now were full of cogon grass (pan-aw) and lanot and it’s along the creek (waig). The soil erosion (korokor), I don’t know how you call it in Ilocano, is slowly eating our land because they’ve chopped all the big trees before, nga para sungrod ti pugon . So my sisters and I decided to save the land by planting trees. In 2006 we decided to plant 1000 mahogany seedlings and to my surprise they grow up very quickly. You can see, the trees are very healthy, and also stopped the soil erosion. It’s also good for our environment.

Two years ago, I've ask my sister again to clear up some more unproductive land, full of kandaroma and pan-aw.  This week, it's raining so I've asked them to plant now, to save watering them after planting. I budgeted 1000 pieces.  Imagine if every farmer plants something, maybe we can have a viable nursery business in our town.  We can provide work for some as well, and maybe in 20 years time we will have a lumber yard business in our town, he he.  What do you guys think?