MOUNT KANLAON NATIONAL PARK

Ecotourism a joint venture
of gov’t, citizens, tourists
BY WINONA CUEVA
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
THINK OF as government on the road, or on the slopes. Mount Kanlaon Natural Park or MKNP on Negros Island is one Protected Area where the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ advocacy to conserve life in the wild is rolled out in a rather personalized way every single day, by everyone involved -- from the tour guide to the visitor, the park ranger, the porter, the local official, the civic worker, to the lawyer that litigates cases against park-law violators.

Well, why not? If what you have in your care is one of nature’s valuable geologic and habitat wonders, you would do everything to keep it at an undisturbed state so that others will not have to make do with reading about it in chronicles of lost nirvana.

Long before ecotourism became popular, Mount Kanlaon was a must destination for mountaineers and hiking enthusiasts in the seventies. Rising to 2,435 meters above sea level, Mount Kanlaon is the highest point in Central Philippines, providing an unobstructed view of the 24.5-hectare park where it sits, set against a more panoramic backdrop of vast sugarland. A memorable wilderness experience can be had here, even though only minimum-impact outdoor activities are prescribed by the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB).

A typical journey to this primeval landscape begins with a 45-minute drive along paved highways from Bacolod City to a mountain resort in the small village of Murcia, followed by a pre-sunrise hike on grassland mottled with trees that grow taller and thicker as you reach the forest line. This is the Wasay trail, one of three major trails that lead to the summit.

Here, stunning images of a tropical jungle slowly unfold. Waterfalls grope into washes and creeks momentarily disappear into lava beds, and then resurface and replenish the lower-slope watersheds that, in turn, feed three river systems. Gnarled trees peeking from behind taller dicterocarps give out an eerie feeling as they seem to guard the secrets of what is locally known as "Hardin Sang Balo," or the widow’s garden. Occasionally, there are bursts of red, blue, and yellow out of tree branches, materializing either as colorful parakeets or wild orchids.

This is home to diverse flora and fauna, including the rare Medinilla magnifica or Kapa-kapa, ribbon ferns, the Flame-templed Tree Babbler, White-winged Cuckoo-shrike, Visayan Tarictic Hornbill, fruit bats, and the Visayan Warty Pig. Deeper into Kanlaon’s jungle, small rain-fed lagoons flanked by elfin trees seem like pages straight out of a child’s storybook with Bambi prancing about…except here, Bambi is the Philippine spotted deer, critically endangered and near extinct.

Yet another scenic spot called the Margaha Valley emerges from the mossy forest to greet trekkers who have gone past mid-mountain. The valley is believed to be an old crater of Mount Kanlaon that collapsed after a series of eruptions in past centuries, evolving over time into an oval-shaped geologic wonder from which can be seen the active crater just 200 meters up. Kanlaon is a highly active phreatic volcano and knowledge of its penchant for erupting without warning would inevitably cause you to cast uneasy glances at the top and quickly step out of danger zone, but for the lure of that fleeting moment of triumph at having reached the peak. So you gaze instead into a deep gash in the earth where time seems frozen in a smoldering wall of ash and rocks.

But the real wonder here is nature’s indomitable life force, as seen on land turning verdant again after being seared by volcanic debris, on wildlife slowly but bravely propagating itself despite threats from human incursion – which was why the PAMB had to redouble efforts to step up park protection advocacy, not only among workers, but among visitors as well.

Straddling the two provinces of Negros, Mount Kanlaon Natural Park has three major ecotourism areas: the Wasay trail in Murcia, the Guintubdan Trail in La Carlota, and the Mananawin entrance in Canlaon City. Scores of hikers and mountaineers flock here during the peak months of March, April, May, October, November, and December, but one outstanding component of MKNP’s ecotourism management is its careful attention to the carrying capacity of the area and what tourism products to market relative to the natural characteristics of the park’s 1,457-hectare recreation zone. The other outstanding management feature is a well-established mountaineering, trekking, guiding, portering, and permit-issuance system.

Permits to hike can be purchased for P300 per person at key areas like the Bacolod airport; these are then checked in ecotour stations located at entrances to the major trails. A maximum of nine people per group can go up the mountain per session, and hiring a tour guide at P500 per day is mandatory.

The MNKP Law, as embodied in Republic Act No. 9154, makes hiking without permit a crime punishable by imprisonment of up to six years. Only minimum-impact activities like hiking, trekking, camping, and picnics are allowed within the park. The tour guides are not only accredited; they are also trained to be an advocacy extension and implementing arm of the government, explaining the MNKP law to visitors.

While ecotourism management at Mount Kanlaon is now well in place, there is no understating the hurdles and challenges that the Protected Area Management Office has had to go through before and after the MNKP Law took effect. To begin with, there was no budget to propel its full implementation. Local government units and peoples’ organizations filled in for much of the years when there was no funding from the national government. With initiatives at the local level, the MNKP Law was translated into four languages and posted in local and national publications, rendering it in full effect by January 13, 2006. Zoning of the park into recreation, strict-protection, and multiple-use areas was undertaken in 2007 and then incorporated in the MNKP Law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations, which took effect in March 2010.

With budget from the national government finally trickling in, Mount Kanlaon’s local management board finds itself in a better position to conduct refresher courses for its field personnel and forest volunteers, as well as to pursue legal cases against environment violators. The latter, a strong legal support system, is one component of protected-area management that serves as a key driver for success. For Mount Kanlaon Natural Park, every case filed and won by its supporters and protectors in the Green Court translates into confidence felt by every field personnel and support group, who revel in knowing that their efforts to keep the park safe from harm are not being wasted.