Authorities in Benguet and Cotabato are closing two of the country?s highest mountain parks to trekkers to prevent forest fires.

Officials of Kabayan town in Benguet have declared the Mt. Pulag National Park off-limits to campers and other visitors to stop the incidence of forest fires and allow burnt forest patches to heal.

Mayor Faustino Aquisan said the municipal council had adopted a resolution closing the country?s second highest peak to hikers until further notice.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources lauded the move but said the decision to close Pulag (2,992 meters above sea level) must be coursed through the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), which has jurisdiction over the issue.

In Kidapawan City, the risk of forest fire taking place in Apo due to the extreme heat has prompted environment officials to recommend a ban on mountaineering in the country?s highest peak.

Sophie Manuel, community environment and natural resources officer, asked the PAMB to suspend this year?s Mt. Apo Summer Climb, saying the risk of forest fire was higher during mountaineering activities.

Aquisan said fires had destroyed forests in six villages of Benguet?Batad, Anshokey, Kabayan Barrio, Pacso, Gusaran and Eddet, as well as coffee plantations.

Forest fires could also be caused by children playing house, slash-and-burn farming, and farmers who clear forests for pasture, he said.

Reynaldo Yawan, chief of the DENR?s Protected Areas, Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Service (PAWCZMS) in the region, said it was up to the PAMB to sustain the decision to close Pulag.

Campers and hikers, he said, had been helpful in reporting forest fires in the park and preventing their entry could be a downside to the bid to protect the park.

Emerita Albas, park superintendent, said the move was difficult to enforce since forest rangers, environment officials and even the police could not guard 24 hours at least seven trails that lead to the peak.

Albas said banning campers could trigger massive manmade forest fires to give way to kaingin, timber poaching and illegal hunting.

But she said forest fires that had engulfed portions of the park have begun to force rarely seen animals to abandon their habitat, exposing them to hunters.

?Clearing the park could also mean loss of income for more than 200 community guides and porters,? she said.

Aquisan said the town was willing to forego its annual summer treks to restore the park.

He said the municipal council passed the resolution to also resolve issues involving transport groups plying the Mt. Pulag route and to retrain tourist guides.

He said residents in Tawangan, Lusod and Bashoy?the villages nearest the park?had agreed to the closure.

?This means that all organized treks by tourism groups and walk-in hikes are now prohibited until all measures have been set in place to protect the park, especially the prevention of forest fires,? Aquisan said.

In Kidapawan, Manuel said the city lacked manpower to supervise the activities of climbers, whose number swelled to about 10,000 in the past.

Psalmer Bernalte, city information officer, said the summer climb should be postponed as a precaution.

In 1998, a fire traced to slash-and-burn farming near the Apo summit destroyed tens of hectares of trees.