The panorama on the sunrise side: an awesome view of Malarayat

The quiet panorama on the sunrise side of the farm: an awesome view of Mount Malaráyat and the river below the gap.

02 August 2012

The Return of the Native

There is now a landmark resource book, striking that there has never been a publication, that writes and informs about and advocates planting Philippine Trees! It is not some drab academic material but in fact, an engaging read with evocative stories, accurate and beautiful photography, reliable scientific and practical information, so much that I completed reading it in just one day. It's a valuable storehouse of our natural heritage that each Filipino must have access to. Our local trees and plants make up so much of our identity yet, I bet any man in the street will not even be able to correctly name three local trees in the first place. And to think we have more than 3,600! Even more crucial, 67% of that is endemic, occurring naturally nowhere else in the world but the Philippine Islands.


It's also timely because a lot of good-natured groups and individuals who venture into greening efforts and reforestation are actually planting trees that hardly contribute to our local eco-system. Local tree advocate and blogger Patrick Gozon's story, The Silent Forest is a great read for a start.

I'm fortunate to have been invited to contribute articles and photographs; I wrote about Lipá (yes, it's a tree!) and Lumbang (right), which is the pair of trees I planted in the parking area outside the farm.

5 comments:

  1. Congratulations on getting published!

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  2. Hello. I bought this book last 2013 in one of the seminar I attended in Manila. From then, I was able to native Philippine Native trees found in our area. And feel proud that many of the trees featured in the book could be found here in San Pablo City. However, my students borrowed the book and did not returned it.
    May I ask, where can I buy another copy of the series of this book. Thank you

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  3. do you have ebooks?

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  4. Hi! May I know where to purchase your book? Please email me at romsampaga@gmail.com or contact me at 09274680753.

    ReplyDelete