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