MAGAPIT PROTECTED LANDSCAPE

HISTORY

The park was established as a game refuge and bird sanctuary on August 15, 1947 covering an
initial area of 4,554 hectares (11,250 acres) declared through Administrative Order No. 10 by
President Manuel Roxas.

Pursuant to Proclamation No. 285, s. 2000, the “Magapit Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary
situated in the municipalities of Gattaran and Lal-lo, province of Cagayan, island of Luzon”
covering an area of 3,403.62 hectares (8,410.5 acres) in northeastern Cagayan province
straddling the municipalities of Lal-lo and Gattaran, was declared as protected area in relation to
to R. A. 7586 (Nipas Act Of 1992). It was designated as the “Magapit Protected Landscape”.

It is one of five protected areas in the province of Cagayan and forms part of the 183,430-hectare
(453,300-acre) forest area called Northeastern Cagayan Key Biodiversity Area, a declared
important bird area that also includes nearby Mount Cagua, Mount Cetaceo and the Buguey
wetlands in the adjacent municipalities of Buguey, Gonzaga, Baggao and Santa Teresita.

LOCATION

The Magapit Protected Landscape area sits on the foothills of the northern Sierra Madre
Mountain range, on the east bank of the Rio Grande de Cagayan between the towns of Magapit
in Lal-lo and Nassiping in Gattaran.

The park is located some 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tuguegarao, Cagayan's capital and
largest city and some 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) south of San Mariano, Lal-lo where the Northern
Cagayan International Airport is being constructed. It is accessible via the Santa Ana Road from
the Port of San Vicente in Santa Ana in the north and from the Pan-Philippine Highway (AH26)
from the west through the Magapit Suspension Bridge.

NATURE

The “Magapit Protected Landscape” is a protected area of forested limestone hills and
grasslands. The park is characterized by open grasslands and lowland evergreen forests on
limestone hills at elevations between 200 metres (660 ft) and 800 metres (2,600 ft) above sea
level. It is drained by several streams including the Magapit, Nassiping and Dummun rivers
which empty into the Rio Grande de Cagayan.

Magapit is an important bird area having been initially established as the Magapit Game Refuge
and Bird Sanctuary. Its hilly landscape provides a habitat for diverse bird species such as swifts,
hornbill, white-breasted sea eagle, amethyst brown dove, fantails, wagtails, sunbirds, herons,
egrets, plovers, Philippine duck, bee-eaters, Philippine bulbul, and yellow-vented bulbul.

BIODIVERSITY

The open grasslands are dominated by cogon grass and talahib. In the forested hills grow
dipterocarp trees such as tanguile (Shorea polysperma), white lauan (Shorea pentacme), red
lauan (Shorea negrosensis), palosapis (Anisoptera thurifera), mayapis (Hopea palosapis), apitong
(Dipterocarpus grandiflorus), guijo (Shorea guiso), dalingdingan (Hopea foxworthyi), and
natural stand of narek (Hopea cagayanensis). Other plant species found in the area are akleng
parang (Albizia sp.), hagonoy (Chromolaena odorata) group, carabao grass, and the Malvaceae
group.

Its hilly landscape provides a habitat for diverse bird species such as swifts, hornbill, white-breasted sea
eagle, amethyst brown dove, fantails, wagtails, sunbirds, herons, egrets, plovers, Philippine duck, bee-
eaters, Philippine bulbul, and yellow-vented bulbul.

The white-bellied sea eagle, also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of
prey in the family Accipitridae.

The Philippine duck is a large dabbling duck of the genus Anas. Its native name is papan. It is
endemic to the Philippines. As few as 5,000 may remain. Overhunting and habitat loss has
contributed to its decline.

The Philippine bulbul is a songbird species in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae.

It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland
forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest

The yellow-vented bulbul, or eastern yellow-vented bulbul, is a member of the bulbul family of
passerine birds. It is resident breeder in southeastern Asia from Indochina to the Philippines.

The amethyst brown dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae.

It is endemic to the Philippines. It occurs on most large islands except Palawan but is generally
rather scarce on Luzon and Mindanao and even rarer elsewhere.
these birds are endemic

REFERENCES
Proclamation No. 285, s. 2000

https://web.archive.org/web/20141025070816/http://bmb.gov.ph/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=62%3Aregion-2&catid=69

https://trek.zone/en/philippines/places/30250/magapit-protected-landscape