Pangasinan trees spared from road widening may still be cut down

DAGUPAN CITY—Trees spared from  a Pangasinan road-widening project being implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) may end up cut anyway if the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) determines these are dying and would pose danger to motorists.

According to a statement from the DENR Ilocos regional office, a tree surgery expert commissioned by the agency urged the immediate treatment of trees along  Manila North Road (MNR) in Pangasinan province that were girdled by a road contractor in preparation for cutting to make way for the road widening.

But because these trees have not been repaired through surgery or “bridge grafting” since February, the DENR consultant, Dr. Wilma Tomas, said some of these may have no chance of survival and must be cut down.

The DENR last week began examining the condition of 437 trees along  MNR in Urdaneta City and Binalonan and Pozorrubio towns.

These were part of the 770 remaining trees facing displacement by the road crew, but which were spared when the DPWH’s permit to cut 1,829 trees lapsed in February.

On Aug. 26, the provincial government, government agencies and environmental groups signed an agreement indicating that no more trees would be cut to give way to the MNR project.

The agreement said, however, that trees with “no more chance of survival” may be felled, only upon the final determination by an expert and with the concurrence of the agencies and environmental groups.

In a statement, the DENR said girdling is a process that would kill the tree, by removing the bark encircling the trunk to block nutrients from reaching its upper sections.

“Bridge graft [is] an option to help save the trees with extensive bark to restore the flow of nutrients from the leaves down to the roots, thereby allowing the trees to recover,” the DENR said.

The assessment and inventory of the 437 trees were conducted last week by the DENR Ecosystems Research and Development Service and by tree surgery experts to “check the condition of the individual trees, whether the damage [to their trunks] were mild or severe.”

The agency did not indicate how many trees were dying due to girdling but it said some narra, mahogany and gmelina trees had been certified as dead.

The DENR also said some trees were infected with fungi. Samuel Peñafiel, DENR  regional executive director, said his office would present its findings to the DPWH. Reports from Yolanda Sotelo and Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon