Abstract

Mt. Arayat National Park is a degraded resource with remaining forest cover of only 21
percent, severely depleted wildlife and water supply, vast fire-prone open lands consisting of cogon,
`talahib', patches of reforestation species, bare rocks and eroded stream banks. Destructive human
activities have been going on unabated by the Government's laxity in enforcing Park's Laws.
Patterns of interaction among the users which include kaingero, charcoal makers, loggers, fuelwood
gatherers, cogon gatherers, and hunters/trappers, are characterized by non-cooperation and limited
cooperation leading to a mutually destructive competition over increasingly scarce park resources
regardless of an optimal and sustainable rate of use. Reciprocity among different groups of users is
almost non-existent. The nature of the Park as being fire-prone and the appropriate technologies
being utilized by the users directly caused negative consequences to the Park's integrity. Decision-
making arrangements of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources or DENR proved to
be incongruent with the Park's urgent problems. Millions of pesos are spent on contract reforestation
with dismal results mainly because of the perennial problem of forest fires which raze the open lands
annually and yet, the agency has yet to formulate and implement a comprehensive fire management
program. Likewise, Park's intrusion and exploitation could have been minimized.