The Sierra Madre national park in northern Luzon is the country's largest natural park. The 360,000-hectare park is the home of endangered species such as pawikan (Chelonia mytas), bayakan or giant bat, Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), wild boar (Sus philippinesis), Philippine brown dear (Cervus marianus), cloud rat (Ratus mindorensis), flame-breasted fruit dove, kalaw (Philippine hornbill), bukarot (Philippine crocodile), and native owl. 

 

 

The Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park (NSMNP) was established in 1997. The park is situated in Isabela Province, in the Northern part of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. It covers nearly 360,000 hectares of diverse tropical rain forest, including lowland evergreen forest, lower mountain and mossy forest, limestone forest and ultra basic forest in the inland parts, and beach forest and mangrove forest along the coast.

 

The area is considered as one of the most biologically rich in the Philippines. It is managed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and WWF-Philippines. Nine municipalities are situated within the park boundaries, the total population of the park numbering around 23,000. The majority of this population consists of (descendents of) immigrants from other provinces in Luzon, who entered the area in the 1960s and 70s when the logging industry was at its height.

 

They presently dominate the area, both in number and culture. Next to these immigrants, the indigenous Agta population only comprises a relatively small group. They are estimated to number 2,000 in total, divided over around 400 households. The Agta are a negrito forest dwelling people whose main livelihood consists of a combination of hunting, fishing, gathering, and shifting cultivation.

 

Most of the inhabitants within the NSMNP are immigrants and descendants of immigrants from Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Cagayan, Pangasinan, La Union, Abra, Nueva Vizcaya, Ifugao, and from as far as the Bicol and the Visayas.  Majority of the population are relatively recent immigrants, having migrated to the area from the late 1960’s to the early 1970’s.

 

The original inhabitants of the Northern Sierra Madre are the Agtas, however, they had been acculturated to the extent that at present these people have mixed with the migrant communities and are no longer recognizable as a group of IPs. The majority of the population of the NSMNP is engaged primarily in farming, both in swidden and permanent farms.

The NSMNP is characterized by three (3) land use categories: (1) agricultural land and settlements; (2) grassland; and (3) forested lands.  The forested lands cover the largest portion of NSMNP.