Computer-based tree planting

A computer-based tree planting scheme that matches reforestation sites and the species to be planted holds great promise of helping turn the tide in the government’s efforts to save what is left of the country’s forests.

Called Species-Site Compatibility (SSC), the technology was developed jointly by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (DENR-ERB) and the Green Tropics International (GTI), a nongovernment organization.

Started in 1998 and completed last year, the research was funded by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD).

The scheme makes use of mathematical models to efficiently determine the appropriate forest tree species to be planted in a particular site.

In the past, many government reforestation programs failed because the species used and the sites where the tree seedlings were planted were incompatible. As experts aver, species-site matching is the first crucial step in planting forests trees.

Different forest tree species respond to different ecological conditions such as soil, elevation, and rainfall. But it takes years to conduct field experiments just to identify which site would be suitable for a certain tree, and vice versa.

The new scheme, said ERDB Director Celso P. Diaz, "reduces time and cost for species-site experiments."

Diaz reported that ERDB has launched a Regional Technology Transfer Project to inform and equip DENR offices and other groups involved in reforestation activities or forest tree plantation establishment with the new scheme.

So far, the training team composed of Dr. Leuvina Tandug, Foresters Manolito Sy and Paulino Umali Jr., and Nelson Levi Lantican has covered Cagayan Valley; Central Luzon; Central and Eastern Visayas; Western, Northern, and Central Mindanao; Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR); and CARAGA. – Rudy A. Fernandez