Thursday, February 26, 2015

A Little Ipo Water Time

Five or less in a boat
My L Arch 206 class went to the Ipo Watershed to do their preliminaries for vegetative analysis. The class decided to visit the U.P. mountaineers plot which was quite far from the Ipo Dam's main superstructure. We would have to take a good 15 to 20 minute boat ride or walk a tiresome six hour hike towards the community and UPM's adopted reforestation plot. Since we were under time pressure to finish our analysis within a day, we chose to go on the shorter boat ride.  (But I was told that the walk was a different experience but maybe I will go on it another day.) 

A mistletoe on a tree branch
An array of green cover at the Ipo river banks
All 13 of us, myself, 7 students and 5 other volunteers mounted 3 small boats donning mandatory orange life vests. Even with the sun's scorching heat I enjoy taking the river ride because of the scenery and of course the prospects of finding flowering plants among the hanging vines and tall trees.  Apart from the flowering malabulak (Bombax ceiba specimens), our companions Ronald and Uly spotted a blooming mistletoe (Uly and Ronald are fond of mistletoes).  But because the plant specimens are quite high up on the tree branches, we did not get clear pictures.   But I took snaps of the mountainsides to show how some areas are green, but a few spots are obviously bald - void of vegetation.  

On a positive note, the U.P. Mountaineers' narra trees are growing steadily.   Some are already small tree height. Thumbs up!  
Our UPM guide Mitch admiring the green scenery
Bald spot in the greens


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Loud Bloomer in Ipo!

A stand of trees at the ridge of the mountain
Lone tree at the dam fringe  
Quick Post: It is February and of course like clockwork the malabulak (Bombax ceiba) trees are in full bloom! And it is very noticeable particularly in the area from La Mesa Dam to Ipo Dam in Bulacan. 5 minutes would not get by without encountering a flowering specimen.  And with the bright red orange flowers, it is really hard to miss!

In the Ipo Watershed the adjacent mountains are colored with greens but the red orange silhouette of Bombax stand out from the verdant color.

Zoomed into the far end of the river where there are visibly malabulak flowering

Trees growing on top of the concrete shoring