Philippine National Arbor Day June 25, 2024: Let us protect our heritage acacia trees

   Philippine National Arbor Day June 25, 2024

Let us protect our heritage

acacia trees

Photographs taken by the author on a running car all the way from Vigan to Laoag, a stretch of 82 kilometers.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Samanea saman is a species of flowering tree in the legume (pea) family, Fabaceae.  It is native to Central and South America.

 

Empty landscape meets the traveler

Emptiness is simplicity, purity, peace and order.

No.  Nothing exists in nothing - or least,

emptiness denies happiness and meaning of life;

leading many to solitude and loneliness.

                                    - A. V. Rotor

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." ― William Shakespeare

"Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots 

into our whole being." ― Victor Hugo

A Cross on the Roadside

                  A Cross in the Sky*

I have lost you forever, 

Now a silhouette in the sky,

Spreading a gospel to remember, 

For the mindless passerby.

You live half of your life, 

Yet fullest at the Throne, 

Earning it well with strife,

Where every seed is sown. 

The birds now a flock,

The child a man;

You bid them all the luck,

And now they are gone.

In youth you sheltered me, 

A thought I can't be free,

I atone for your brevity,

With a thousand and one tree.

                              

                                (Light in the Woods by Dr A.V. Rotor 1995)

"I feel a great regard for trees; they represent age and beauty 

and the miracles of life and growth." ― Louise Dickinson Rich

 

The Highway Conquers All

The highway conquers all:

Trees on its shoulder, lawn between lanes;

in rich diversity now thinned out;

wildlife pedestrians crossing;

breeze swept into cyclone and dust;

bright, pure colors into kaleidoscope,

landscapes into haze and maze;

whisper and lull into sudden boom;

leaves fall in any season;

Give way to the king of the road;

now you see him, now you don't -

the Janus' god of the Good Life. 

- A,V,Rotor

"All our wisdom is stored in the trees." ― Santosh Kalwar

"On the last day of the world I would want to plant a tree." 

― W.S. Merwin 

 

"I think I shall finally see,

A kind-hearted man plant a tree,

For he who truly loves thee

Shall love others through a tree."

- A V Rotor, Light in the Woods

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand 

everything better.” – Albert Einstein

“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.”

 – Gerard De Nerval

Crucified Nature

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" - Christ on the Cross

"Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive,

you haven't done a thing. You are just talking." ― Wangari Maathai

 

"When trees burn, they leave the smell of heartbreak in the air." 

― Jodi Thomas

 

"Trees are as close to immortality as the rest of us ever come." 

― Karen Joy Fowler

 

"Trees do not preach learning and precepts. They preach, undeterred 

by particulars, the ancient law of life." ― Herman Hesse

"Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky." ― Kahlil Gebran

 

 “Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”   John Muir

  

 

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

   

“Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.” – E. O. Wilson

 

  

 

 

 

Murdered Trees Persist in Memory 

“By killing trees, we are killing ourselves too.”

A Magnificent Acacia Tree 

A great acacia, with its slender trunk

And overpoise of multitudinous leaves.

(In which a hundred fields might spill their dew

And intense verdure, yet find room enough)

Stood reconciling all the place with green.

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 

Living Hall

Outdoor conference hall, classroom, playground

                                    Acacia and Carbon Sequestration

Carbon sequestration is the capture and long-term removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. According to a research conducted at the School of Forestry of the Bogor Agricultural Institute, Indonesia, a mature acacia tree with a crown diameter measuring 15 meters (49 ft) absorbed 28.5 metric tons (28.0 long tons; 31.4 short tons) of CO2 annually.

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”— William Shakespeare

  

The La Union Centennial Tree in Bacnotan was proclaimed as one of the 13 Philippine Centennial Trees under the DENR Administrative Order (DAO) No. 98-25 on 03 June 1998. This DAO also proclaims these centennial trees as Protected Trees and mandates a multi-sectoral effort in protecting these trees.

“To really feel a forest canopy, we must use different senses. And often the most useful one is the sense of imagination.”— Joan Maloof

Author points at an on-the-spot painting he made in 1976 of a standing heritage acacia tree.  Adjacent to is a outdoor furniture shop. San Vicente is famous for wood furniture industry. The painting graces the lobby of the San Vicente Municipal Hall in Ilocos Sur.

“When one plants a tree they plant themselves. Every root is an anchor, over which one rests with grateful interests, and becomes sufficiently calm to feel the joy of living.” 
— John Muir