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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2015)
1 B SIUSLAW NEWS Siuslaw Valley Senior News: The Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 FAX: (541) 997-7979 pressreleases@thesiuslawnews.com WEDNESDAY APRIL 8 • 2015 CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK For love of the land COURTESY PHOTOS John and Maria Yager, of Florence, enlisted the aid of local craftsmen in building this traditional longhouse on Mindanao Island, Philippines. The Yagers built it near the UNESCO World Heritage Site on Mt. Hamiguitan, which they were instrumental in preserving. One Florence couple’s commitment to save a rainforest half a world away B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News I n 1992, John and Maria Yager conceived of a dream — to save one of the most unique rainforests in the world, the cloud forest perched atop Mt. Hamiguitan on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, Maria’s homeland. Last summer that dream was realized when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the rainforest a World Heritage Site, essentially guaranteeing its preservation and preventing any further human encroachment. The journey was daunting, time consuming and filled with setbacks. When the Yagers first thought of the idea, a heavy metal strip mine was operating on the far side of the mountain, coating the trails into the rainforest in chromate, which was being extract- ed from the mine. Local farmers were logging off the other side of the mountain using slash-and-burn methods to clear the land. “The native people have traditionally done things a certain way,” John said. “When there is so little land, you have to convince them to do A team of master craftsmen built the two-story longhouse from native woods and materials. The Yagers kept the design “as traditional as possible.” something different. It isn’t that easy when they are so very poor. Our intention was to create an alternative.” The first step was organizing 50 local Philippine families into a co-operative to draw people away from cutting down the mountain forests and to stop- ping slash and burn agricultural practices. The Yagers helped to The area on Mindanao Island, looking over the Pacific Ocean, was de- clared a national park by the local mayor. With the UNESCO World Heritage designation, the mountain and surrounding rainforest will be protected forever. plant banana and coconut trees to create sustain- able revenue sources. Another project of the co-op was to build a longhouse for travelers who wanted to visit the rainforest. “We worked and built this longhouse,” John said. “We built it completely out of native mate- rials. With the exception of things like kitchen counters, we tried to make this as native as pos- sible. We saw this as an opportunity for the peo- ple to make an income off of tourists. “Some of these people are master carpenters. We started out with trees that we milled to make the longhouse. Others wove mats for the ceil- ings. Every-thing was carted up the mountain by hand. There was no road up here when we start- ed, only a trail,” he added. The now completed two-story longhouse sleeps 30 people. All meals served are based on traditional Philippine cuisine — no Coca Cola, only water and coconut milk. Mining, logging and other eco-destroying enterprises continued to threaten the rainforest, however. “This is some of the last uncut rainforest in the Philippines,” John explained. “There is no more than 5 or 6 percent left, at most.” “Tina Yu, the mayor of the local municipality where we worked for many years, was able to declare the very top of the mountain a national park,” Maria said. “We have worked with her for many years to try and stop the cutting.” But national parks can still be subject to the whims of political graft and corruption. Something more permanent needed to be done. UNESCO finally decided to consider the rain- forest as a World Heritage Site. “There was a lot of debate on the part of the UNESCO people because of the open mining on the other side of the mountain,” John said. “UNESCO finally declared the rainforest a World Heritage Site last summer.” When UNESCO was evaluating the rainfor- est, the representatives stayed at the longhouse, the only lodging available on the mountain. The struggle to maintain the integrity of the mountain’s natural resources is an ongoing chal- lenge for the Yagers and the co-op. “With Maria’s connections, we were able to buy up parcels of land. We just bought a parcel not too long ago that a commercial water com- pany wanted to develop to truck water down off the mountain. We had to purchase the land in order to block the water company from develop- ing a plant up there. The location was just one mile from the longhouse,” John said. “Our efforts have been directed at first to pro- tecting the water shed and protecting the people. Just like here, in order to protect the community you have to come up with viable economic options that also protect our resources.” The Yagers have lived in the Florence area since 1995. They grow organic produce, nuts and fruit on their 171-acre farm, south of Florence, that are sold at the local farmers mar- ket and through Real Food Co-op.