Proposed forestry activities under the ECA Aid Program

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Part of Forestry Leaves

Title: Proposed forestry activities under the ECA Aid Program
Language: English
Year: 1951
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Fulltext: Proposed Forestry Activities Under The ECA Aid Program By Forester Porfirio San Buenaventura Chief, Administrative Division, Bureau of Forestry Under the ECA aid program as laid out by ing considered to be undertaken by the Buthe PHILCUSA for the development of our reau of Forestry during the current fiscal national economy, there are four projects be- year with the corresponding allotments, viz: 1. Forest Products Laboratory ...... . 2. Land Classification ............. . 3. Forest Conservation and Water Control ........................ . 4. Cinchona Plantation The rlollar requirement will be supplied by the Gov~rnment of the United States of America, mainly in the form of equipment, machineries and supplies as well as technical assistance. The peso counterpart will be provirlP.d by the Republic of the Philippines. The forest products laboratory will be established in the Mt. Makiling National Park, Los Baiios, Laguna, where the Division of Forest Investigation of the Bureau of Forestry and the College of Forestry, University of the Philippines are located. The park is considered an ideal site because of the presence of the required materials for study, the facilities it now has, the Forest officers engaged in forest research and the College faculty and students who could cooperate in the research work. The laboratory will consist of various departments such as Administrative, Wood-Preservation, Timber Mechanics, Industrial Investigation, Wood Technology, Chemistry and Timber Physics. This project will require some 56 personnel and while they will not all be foresters, many of them will be, or at least with some trainSEPTEMBER, 1951 Dollar (Requirements) Peso $239,552.00 and P518,510.00 100,000.00 " 900,000.00 83.000.00 93,000.00 " " none none ing and experience in forestry. Thus opportunity for employment of forestry graduates will be enhanced. Personally, I would advise forestry students to try to expand their knowledge of chemistry by taking this subject mucl} beyond the requirement of the forestry curriculum. The establishment of a forest products laboratory will be the realization of the dream of the Bureau of Forestry. For over· two or three decades, the Bureau has continuously recommended this project. Before the war, we had small laboratory units which were not adequate enough to be proud of. We look forward, if given the funds and facilities, to make this laboratory render full service to the people and the forest industry. Mr. Winslow L. Gooch is now in the Bureau of Forestry as technical adviser for thP forest products laboratory and in the various fields of forest utilization tending to increase the utility of our woods and other forest products, especially in the use of by-products of wood from the present wastes in the manufacture of lumber. Another American adviser is expected to look into the chemistry of Page 9 woods and the production of pulp, cellulose and lignin from local materials. Two Filipino trainees will be sent to the United States to study along different lines to prepare them for service in the forest product laboratory. The land classification project aims to classify 400,000 hectares a year, to provide agricultural lands for the Bureau of Lands to subdivide and distribute to the people. The greater portion of such lands is in Mindanao: fairly large tracts are also in the islands of Luzon, Samar, Negros, Palawan, Mindoro, etc. The plan for this project calls for the use of aerial photography to hasten the work. This will be the first time photogrammetry will be employed in our forest surveys and it will be undertaken with the cooperation of the Philippine Air Force and the Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey. The Bureau of Forestry will employ additional 150 foresters and rangers, as well as other personnel such as draftsmen, clerks and helpers, to be selected mostly from Forestry graduates who have experience in the work and are presently with the Bureau of Forestry. New personnel may be appointed to replace those transferred to land classification, to perform the other administrative functions of the Bureau. This, also, will provide more openings for forestry graduates. The ECA has given special consideration of priority for land classification because its land settlement program calls for land surveys and issuance of titles to bonafide settlers in conjunction with actual cultivation and production of crops. Before the public lands are surveyed and disposed of to the people, thf' law requires that they must previously be classified and certified by the Bureau of Forestry as not needed for forest purposes, or as they are presently called, "alienable and disposabl~ lands." The third project (forest conservation and water control) aims at aiding the aforestation and reforestation work of the Bureau. The aid consists mainly in the purchase of planting and transportation equipment needed in Page 10 the reforestation of watersheds of destructive rivers. With such equipment our work will be considerably increased and improved. The fourth project, Cinchona Plantation. will be really a part of the forest products h1boratory. The fund allocated is for the purchase of a processing plant to convert our Cinchona bark into totaquina or quinine sulphate. At first, the request for this fund was questioned due to the present availability of imported quinine sulphate and other medicines against malaria. Doubts arose as to the urgent need for this project. However, we have contended that we are at present maintaining the Cinchona plantation which is producing 60,000 kilograms of bark a year that may easily be increased; that at present the bark produced is being marketed in the United States; that we believe we can and should profitably manufacture this raw material into totaquina and quinine sulphate tablets primarily for local use; that we should have our own source of supply. During the last war when quinine could not be imported, the people suffered much from malaria due to lack of this drug. Fortunately, in Mindanao where the Bureau of Forestry had its Cinchona plantation, our Cinchona bark even in its raw form could help alleviate the scourge of malaria. Not only that, considerable bark was shipped to allied forces in Australia to help win the war. With this project, we hope to produce totaquina in substantial quantity. Before the war, the Bureau of Science was producing only a very limited amount of totaquina for use of government institutions, from the bark produced in our Cinchona plantation. He wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason. -Ernest Hemingway, Notes on the Next War * * * * I will study and prepare and then, perhaps, my chance will come. ~Lincoln FORESTRY LEAVES