Thesis Author:  John Marlon P. Magbuo, Cumlaude with Honors – Grantee of Education & Environment for Development, Inc. Undergraduate Thesis Grant (pictured with his parents and Prof. Emeritus Dr. Asuncion K. Raymundo, UPLB; FEED Advisor)

FEED Scholar John Marlon P. Magbuo graduation and acknowledgment of sponsors at UPLB, 19 June 2019.

BS Forestry, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB)

The conduct of this was made possible, primarily, by my thesis adviser Enrique L. Tolentino, Jr.- a professor at the Institute of Renewable Natural Resources, CFNR, UPLB. He provided me the information regarding the forest restoration that was made at the DBP Project Site 10 years ago focusing particularly on the role of the native species in various restoration initiatives.

I have seen this as an opportunity to contribute to the very limited knowledge and researches conducted regarding the performance of the native tree species in forest restoration which can be used by different institutions as future reference. This thesis mainly focused on the assessment of the native species in the area in terms of growth performances, diversity parameters, physiographic factors, and silvicultural treatments applied. I gained a lot in conducting this thesis, especially when I gathered the data that I needed on the field.

Further, I realized that the use of native species has been extensive in forest restoration sites, but we can maximize the productive capacity and derived benefits from the area if the most suitable native species were considered. This means that intensive site characterization and site-species matching should be done first in order to ensure that the benefits derived from the restored area (diversity, high carbon-sequestration, etc.) are guaranteed.

Upon the conduct also of this research, I have realized that there is still great improvement that we can afford in our restoration practices in the country, especially with the use of the native tree species. In terms of monitoring, evaluation, and post-project assessments these are all vital in determining the future trajectory of the restored area as well as a form of obtaining information if the species used were able to perform best on a sustained, longer time periods.

The whole experience in this research had been a blast because of the warm welcome of the Land Grant Management Office headed by Dr. Virgilio Villancio as the Land Grant Director and Forester Rey Lorida as the Field Manager. The staffs and worker both at the office and on-site were all humbled and have open arms for their guests proven by their utmost assistance for the provision of the secondary data that I’d needed and their lending of hands during the field data gathering since I have been working my thesis alone. Their willing participation and help had made the data collection process easier and faster. This research would not also be possible without the help of FEED, headed by Ms. Ofelia Mananquil-Bakker (Founder) since their financial support for this had been a great help for the transportation and food expenses during site visits well as for the purchasing of soil test kit for the soil analysis. The grant is also essential for the printing and hardbound expenses of the manuscript.

Aside from the new experience of having an undergraduate thesis/research, I have grateful because through this I had able to somehow broaden my pool of knowledge regarding our forests and forest ecosystems as well as the establishment and management practices applied therein. I have learned that we have vast forest resources and that knowledge that can be extracted from it is also enormous. We just have to dig them on the extent of our abilities, passion, and care to the sustainability of our forests.

Photo Documentations: Appendix C. Phase I of UP Laguna-Quezon Land Grant, Siniloan, Laguna

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