Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
Maria Aurora Memorial Park lies inland from the towns of Baler and Maria Aurora in central Aurora Province and eastern Nueva Ecija, close to the border with Nueva Vizcaya. It is a short distance to the north of Mt Dingalan (PH018). The main habitats in the park are lowland rainforest, montane forest and secondary scrub, and there are also areas of arable land (including rice paddies), small settlements and rural gardens. The maximum altitude of the park is reported to be 1,000 m, so the main forest type inside the park must be lowland dipterocarp, with only limited areas of montane forest. Land uses inside the park include both permanent and shifting agriculture (kaingin) and forestry.
Several of the threatened and restricted-range species of the Luzon Endemic Bird Area have been recorded in or near to Maria Aurora Memorial Park. The recent sightings of Philippine Eagle there suggest that this IBA is an important part of the network of sites required to conserve the population of that species in the Sierra Madre mountains. Limited information is available on the status of other threatened or restricted-range birds in the park, but, like other IBAs in the Sierra Madre, it is likely that the avifauna there will prove to be similar to that of Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park (PH015).
The main habitats in the park are lowland rainforest, montane forest and secondary scrub, and there are also areas of arable land (including rice paddies), small settlements and rural gardens. The maximum altitude of the park is reported to be 1,000 m, so the main forest type inside the park must be lowland dipterocarp, with only limited areas of montane forest. Land uses inside the park include both permanent and shifting agriculture (kaingin) and forestry.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Nueva Ecija has been reported to have had the highest rate of forest loss of any province in this part of Luzon during the 1980s. Most of the forest within the province has been converted to agriculture and pasture. Most of what remains, especially that in the Pantabangan watershed, is being threatened by forest fires and kaingins. The pressures on Maria Aurora Memorial Park are also reported to include illegal logging, the collection of forest products and hunting of wildlife.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
The Haribon Foundation and DENR completed a Philippine Eagle population survey in the park in April 1997. Further surveys are required there, to investigate the current status of the threatened and restricted-range birds and other biodiversity.
Aurora Memorial Park was proclaimed by virtue Proc. No.774 in 11 August 1941 and Proc. No. 130 in August 11, 1941. It is proposed as a Protected Landscape and Seascape under NIPAS.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Aurora Memorial National Park (Philippines). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/aurora-memorial-national-park-iba-philippines on 22/11/2024.
