Tree controversy becomes laboratory for tree-balling policy

BAGUIO CITY—The controversy over the fate of 182 trees, which a shopping mall intends to uproot and transfer, has provided the government with a laboratory to help it design a mechanism for transplanting Baguio’s pine trees.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has informed SM Investments Corp. that it has been documenting the methods the mall used on April 9 when it earth balled trees standing on the western section of Luneta Hill to make way for the expansion of SM City Baguio, said Augusto Lagon, technical director of the DENR Cordillera’s Forest Management Service.

Lagon said government foresters supervised the transfer of 40 alnus trees and a pine tree. The operations were suspended by a 72-hour temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) issued by the regional trial court that lapsed on Friday afternoon. The Tepo, which has been reportedly extended indefinitely until case is resolved, addressed a complaint filed by the Cordillera Global Network (CGN), an alliance of various groups opposed to the displacement of 182 trees by the mall.

Among the arguments raised by CGN against SM’s earth-balling plans was the claim that few Benguet pine trees survive the process, which Lagon said had been validated by government case studies.

The latest DENR study involved the transfer of 91 trees at the forested area of the Baguio City Economic Zone in 2009.

The report said 10 of 25 pine trees (with trunk diameters measuring 10 centimeters and below) survived the transfer, while six of 29 pine trees (with trunks measuring more than 20 cm) thrived, all in a four-month span. The same report said none of 18 pine trees (with 10 to 20 cm trunks) survived transplanting from January to April 2009.

“Another follow-up study this year will be undertaken to determine the condition of 451 pine trees displaced by the construction of a building by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority,” Lagon said.

Permits

Clarence Baguilat, DENR Cordillera director, said the agency issued eight earth-balling permits from 2002 to 2011 for 673 trees, which were displaced because of development projects. He said 503 trees were earth balled in 2008, which represents the single biggest volume of transplanted trees recorded in the city.

Earth balling is an accepted technology dating back to the late 1970s, Lagon said. Earth balling refers to the process where mechanical equipment is used to uproot a tree without damaging its major root systems. The equipment then ships the tree for transplanting in a different area.

Studies conducted by DENR in the 1990s showed that only pine trees with trunks measuring less than 15 cm in diameter have the best chance of surviving the transfer.

“But we intend to learn if bigger and older trees can also thrive when moved,” Lagon said. Pine tree roots are sensitive, he said, and the process of uprooting alone already damages the roots.

Based on an exchange of information between DENR and University of the Philippines Los Baños experts hired by SMIC, the agency believed that moisture, distance of the relocation area and the age of the tree are necessary for keeping transplanted pine trees alive, Lagon said.

Lagon said the transfer was done at night. “It was DENR which recommended that it be done at night. We need to make sure the roots and the top of the tree keep their moisture, which is why the optimum time for earth balling must be at night to take advantage of the lower temperature,” he said. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon