Fascinating flora and fauna revealed by TVI-led Canatuan study
Dandana’s team is tasked to survey and monitor Canatuan’s flora and fauna in compliance with the conditions set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) issued to TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD). The company operates a copper-zinc mining facility in this town, located in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
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Above, the forest near the Sulphide Dam, one of the 11 forest patches that being monitored and assessed by the flora and fauna team. Below, (from left) Benigno Resurrecion, Rolly Urizza (partly hidden), and Evelyn Dofredo of SGS, along with Rowena Inion of TVIRD and Rolando Bartolata, a local guide discuss how to conduct survey for the day.
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Rowena Inion, TVIRD Environment Department Supervisor, spearheads the team, which also includes personnel from the Philippine unit of SGS, the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, as well as indigenous Subanon guides.
This is the second time that a surveying and monitoring is being conducted on the village’s flora and fauna. The first was in 2006, two years after TVIRD began its gold and silver operations in the area which were completed in 2008.
Nilda Callora, TVIRD Canatuan Environment Department Manager, says one of the conditions of the ECC states that TVIRD should undertake terrestrial flora and fauna and aquatic assessment of all mining areas during the mining operation and a year after mine closure. The results and findings of the assessment are to be integrated to the company’s Environment Management Plan.
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A local fruit bat (above) and a naked face spider hunter bird) caught and later released by the terrestrial flora and fauna assessment team
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“We conducted the flora and fauna assessment in all 11 forest patches within the mining concession area. We visited the forest patches adjoining TVIRD’s Sulphide (Copper-Zinc) Tailings dam, Gossan (Gold-Silver) Tailings Dam, Cusan Creek, Lower Phase 1, the eastern and western portions of the area we refer to as ‘air strip,’ Canatuan Creek, back of the Mill Plant and Backroad,” Inion explains.
The soft-spoken and unassuming supervisor led the team in climbing steep ravines, slippery and rocky trails to reach the peak of the Paduan mountain range and to go down to adjacent Cusan Creek to verify if the animals and plants monitored during the 2006 survey still exist.
For four days and nights her team proceeded with their mission, ignoring heavy rains, chilly winds and the dangerous terrain. They monitored flying lemurs, various bat species, even a Philippine cobra laying eggs in a small forest clearing. The team, along with their native guides, rejoiced upon seeing big natural grown trees standing proudly as they passed by.
“Initial findings show that all forest patches within TVIRD’s Mineral Production Sharing Agreement area still have good forest cover,” SGS’s Rolly Urizza says in his report to Inion. Although, Inion’s team failed see hornbills, a bird specie referred to as the “timekeeper of the mountains”, she reports that Subanon residents at Solonsangan village swear the birds do exist in a forest patch near their homes.
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Members of the team take a pause from their long hike to pose among natural-grown trees. From left: SGS’s Benigno Resurreccion, TVIRD Environment Foreman Paulito Goon, TVIRD Forester Gemma Dandana, TVIRD Environment crewmember Rolando Bartolata.
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“Dipterocarp species like bagtikan, amon, white lauaan, and mayapas, identified as critically endangered trees by the DENR, are still dominant among the natural grown trees in Canatuan. They are followed by loktob and ulayan trees,” Urizza adds.
Urizza, a forester of 15 years and veteran in the flora and fauna monitoring field explains that “animals caught in our traps are subsequently set free. We catch them using nets so we will have proofs that they still do exist in their natural habitat even if there is an ongoing mining operation in the area.”
Callora says an assessment will be submitted by SGS, along with the TVIRD Environment team’s recommendations, to Jay Nelson, TVIRD Vice President for Environment and Civil Works. However, SGS team leader Evelyn Dofredo says her team has already forwarded to Inion SGS’s initial findings and recommendations. These include, first, a continuing education campaign to be conducted by TVIRD among locals on the adverse effects of slash-and-burn farming method and of indiscriminate cutting of trees to protect the remaining forest; second, the limiting of tree-cutting and the full utilization of trees that have already been cut; third, collecting seeds from mother dipterocarp trees and planting, growing, and inter-planting of dipterocarps alongside mangium species as part of TVIRD’s reforestation program.
Accomplishing the team’s task was not easy. At times it was risky. Overall, the team members agree it was fulfilling. Inion, a nature lover, says she has also come to feel for the Canatuan mountains and the simplicity of the Subanon people, TVIRD’s gracious hosts. She points out that their culture fascinates her and that she has grown committed to help preserve that culture, along with the centuries-old trees and the wild animals in the Subanon ancestral domain, a birthright of the tribe’s future generations. (Lullie Micabalo)