Protected Areas

in

REGION 2

Fuyot Springs National Park

Fuyot Springs National Park is a protected area of the Philippines located in the mountain
slopes of Barangay Santa Victoria in Ilagan, Isabela 405 kilometers northeast from Manila. The
park, which also contains the Ilagan Sanctuary, is 819 hectares in area and extends to the nearby
municipality of Tumauini in the Cagayan Valley. It was established in 1938 through
Proclamation No. 327.
The park is a popular draw for hikers, mountaineers, spelunkers and birdwatchers who
come to explore its mountain trails, caves, odd rock formations and aviary. Adjacent to the park
lies the larger Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park which contains even more diverse wildlife.
The Pinzal Falls is another major draw inside the park and provides relaxation to visitors aside
from the park's many natural mountain springs.

Fuyot Spring Natural Park, Iligan City, Isabela

Bangan Hill National Park

Bangan

Hill

National

Park is

a protected

area of

the Philippines located

in

the municipality of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya in Cagayan Valley. The park covers an area of
13.90 hectares. It was declared a national park in 1995 by virtue of Republic Act No. 7954.
The park is a historic and cultural landmark of Nueva Vizcaya, being the site of the first
mass in the province in 1739 officiated by Father Pedro Freire. The event also marked the
founding of the municipality of Bayombong. The park is also the site of the annual "Stations of
the Cross" staged by the local Catholic Church during the Lenten season using live actors
depicting the last moments leading to Jesus Christ's crucifixion. It is also an ideal year-round
destination for hiking enthusiasts with the observation deck commanding a great view of the
expanse of the surrounding valley formed by the Caraballo and Cordillera Central mountains.

Bangan Hill National Park, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya

Peablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape

The Peablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape, formerly the Callao Cave National
Park, is the largest protected areain the province of Cagayan in northern Philippines. It is on the
border with Isabela province, contiguous with the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park. The
protected area, best known as the location of Callao Cave, covers the largest block of forest
under conservation in the province. It is located in the municipality of Peablanca and covers
118,781.582 hectares (293,515.68 acres) of the northern Sierra Madre mountain range and its
adjacent Pacific coast.The Peablancapark is situated just 24 kilometres (15 mi) east of
Cagayan's provincial capital of Tuguegarao and some 580 kilometres (360 mi) north of Manila. It
is traversed by the Pinacanauan River, a major tributary of the Rio Grande de Cagayan, which
supplies clean water and irrigation to surrounding communities as well as the nearby city of
Tuguegarao.

The

park

is

inhabited

by

three

indigenous

groups,

namely

the Ibanag, Itawes and Aeta. It is also known for its archaeological relics discovered within its
caves. The limestone formations found within its 300 cave systems, the most popular of which
areCallao Caveand Sierra Cave.

Peablanca
Protected Landscape and Seascape, Peablanca, Cagayan

Batanes Protected Landscape and Seascape

Characterized by a complex of terrestrial, wetland and marine ecosystem, the Batanes
group of islands consist of 10 small islands bounded by the Eashi Channel on the north, by the
Pacific Ocean on the east, by the South China Sea on the west and the Balintang Channel on the
south. It is one of the last remaining areas in the Philippines having unique natural physiographic
features (wave-cut cliffs, cave-like outcrops, secluded white sand beaches) resulting from its
position where strong winds and fast currents have etched out its distinct morphology. It is an
important flyaway for many migratory bird species, and the deeper portions of the marine
environment are the few remaining sites where pink and red corals (Corallum sp.) are found. The
site is the only area in the Philippines where traditional architecture is of stone in response to the
wind and monsoon stresses rather than of the more typical, tropical, impermanent materials
(wood, bamboo, thatch) cxommonly used in village architecture. Due to its isolation from the
rest of the country, the traditional culture of the area has likewise remained intact.

Magapit Protected Landscape

The Magapit Protected Landscape is a protected area of forested limestone hills and
grasslands in the Cagayan Valley of northern Luzon island in the Philippines. It covers an area of
3,403.62 hectares (8,410.5 acres) in northeastern Cagayanprovince straddling the municipalities
of Lal-lo and Gattaran. The park was established as a game refuge and bird sanctuary on 15
August 1947 covering an initial area of 4,554 hectares (11,250 acres) declared through
Administrative Order No. 10 by President Manuel Roxas. On 23 April 2000, the park was
redesignated as a protected landscape area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System
Act through Proclamation No. 285 signed by President Joseph Estrada. The park is a component
of the Northeastern Cagayan Key Biodiversity Area and also contains the Lal-lo and Gattaran
Shell Middens, a proposed World Heritage Site.

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 villages of Magapit
in Lal-lo and Nassiping in Gattaran. It is
one of five protected areas in the province
of Cagayan and forms part of the 183,430hectare (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. 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.[4] It is drained by several streams including the Magapit,
Nassiping and Dummun rivers which empty into the Rio Grande de Cagayan.

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.

Casecnan Protected Landscape

Casecnan Protected Landscape is a protected area in the Casecnan River watershed of
eastern Luzon in the Philippines. It has a total area of 88,846.80 hectares straddling the provinces
of Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Aurora.
The protected landscape area stretches over the municipalities of Dupax Del Norte and
Dupax Del Sur in Nueva Vizcaya, Maddela in Quirino, and Dipaculao in Aurora. It was
established to protect the watershed around the Casecnan River, a tributary of the Rio Grande de
Cagayan which flows through the mountains of central Sierra Madre, the Caraballo and
Mamparang

ranges.

The river is used heavily for irrigation and serves much of the surrounding communities in
Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley. It also supplies hydroelectric power to the region, an

additional 140 megawatts of power capacity to the Luzon grid through an underground tunnel
and powerhouse built in 2001 from the diversion weirs in the Casecnan and Taan Rivers in
Nueva Vizcaya near Mount Guiwan to the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija.

Casecnan Protected Landscape, Dupax, Nueva Viscaya

Quirino Protected Landscape

The Quirino

Protected

Landscape is

a protected

area in

the Philippine island

of Luzon that covers a large portion of the province of Quirino. It was established in 2004 to
preserve the watershed area containing the headwaters of the Cagayan River, also known as the
Rio Grande de Cagayan, which supports major irrigation systems in the entire Cagayan
Valley region. From an initial area of 206,875.41 hectares (511,200.3 acres), the protected area
now forms a total aggregate area of 175,943.62 hectares (434,766.2 acres) divided into three
parcels after a 2005 amendment opened up a few areas to mining. It is a key biodiversity area of
the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor

Quirino Protected Landscape,

Diffun, Cabarroguis, Aglipay, Maddela and Nagtipunan, Quirino

Salinas Natural Monument

The Salinas Natural Monument is a natural monument comprising saline springs and
forested mountains in southern Cagayan Valley in the Philippines. It is one of four protected
areas in the landlocked province of Nueva Vizcaya spanning an area of 6,675.56 hectares
(16,495.7 acres) in the municipalities of Bambang, Kayapa and Aritao. The park was established
on 18 May 1914 as the Salinas Forest Reserve covering the Salinas Salt Springs and surrounding

forest through Executive Order No. 44 signed by Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison. In
1926, through amendments made in Proclamation No. 53 by Governor-General Leonard Wood,
the forest reserve was re-established as the Salinas Deer Refuge. Salinas was finally declared a
natural monument in 2000 under the National Integrated Protected Areas System through
Proclamation No. 275 by President Joseph Estrada.

Salinas National Monument, Nueva Vizcaya

Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park

The Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park is the largest protected area of the Philippines covering
the northern range of the Sierra Madre mountains of eastern Luzon. The park is located in the
eastern part of the province of Isabela in Cagayan Valley (Region II) containing a total of
359,486 hectares (888,310 acres). It was first declared a wilderness reserve encompassing an
area within a 45 kilometres (28 mi) radius of Palanan Point known as the Palanan Wilderness
Area through Letter of Instructions No. 917-A signed by President Ferdinand Marcos on 7

September 1979. On 10 March 1997, the area was converted into a natural park with the signing
of Proclamation No. 978 by President Fidel Ramos.
The park is considered the richest in terms of genetic, species and habitat diversity in the
Philippines. It is one of the country's ten priority protected areas managed by its own Protected
Area Management Board headed by the Regional Executive Director of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources for Region II under the rules set forth in Article III of
Republic Act 9125, also known as the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park (NSMNP) Act of
2001. In 2006, the protected area was added to the Philippines' tentative list of potential World
Heritage Sites.

Palaui Island Marine Reserve

Palaui Island lies off the northwestern part of a large promontory in San Vicente, in
the municipality of Santa Ana, Cagayan province. It is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) at its longest and
about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) at its widest and moderately high. The western shore of the island

appears bold, but on the eastern side, a reef projects

from its side for 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi), the edge of
it being 0.8 kilometres (0.50 mi) from and
extending around the small islet of Escucha, east of
Palaui. The Dos Hermanos rocky islets lie offCape
Engao, in the northern point of Palaui, and there
are some rocks off the northeast point of the island,
about 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) eastward of the cape.
At the southwest end of Palaui Island is Puerto Point,
a high, wooded bluff. East of the point and south of
Palaui is Rona Island, a low, wooded island with a
white base of sand and rocks. Escucha Island is a high
and wooded islet east of Palaui, and beyond Rona
Island when seen from southwestward through the
channel between Palaui Island and the mainland,
where a few more islets are located.
The northern point of the island is called Cape Engao where on the summit of the hill lie
the ruins of Cape Engao Lighthouse. Engao Cove is a small cove southwest of the lighthouse
where supplies for the station were previously landed. Today, small vessels can find good
anchorage in this protected cove, except by northwesterly and westerly winds. A trail and a 229step concrete stairway from the cove leads the travelers to the lighthouse.
The Port of San Vicente in Santa Ana,
Cagayan, situated between Palaui Island and the coast
of Luzon, is the jump-off point for crossing the
channel to Punta Verde (Point Verde) on Palaui
Island, or heading to Engao Cove, a little further to
the north. The hike from Punta Verde, the southeast
tip of Palaui, to Cape Engao takes about 3.5 to 4
hours of hike through beautiful verdant scenery.
Primitive camping is allowed at the lighthouse
vicinity.