Culajao Mangrove Ecopark

History
        It was yet in1994 when a fisheries technician of the City agriculture Services Office of Roxas City LGU visited Brgy. Culajao to include its coastal resources in the preparation of the City's Fishery Profile as Seafood's Capital of the country. It was then that she meet former Brgy. Captain Villagracia who accompanied her take the boat through Culajao river to the mangrove area and told her the stories of how they defended it from adjacent fishpond owners who wanted to extend their dikes to include the area. She take note of it until 2001 when as CRM Coordinator she spearheaded the formulation of the city's coastal zoning plan and the New Fishery and CRM Ordinance.  It was yet in1994 when a fisheries technician of the City agriculture Services Office of Roxas City LGU visited Brgy. Culajao to include its coastal resources in the preparation of the City's Fishery Profile as Seafood's Capital of the country. It was then that she meet former Brgy. Captain Villagracia who accompanied her take the boat through Culajao river to the mangrove area and told her the stories of how they defended it from adjacent fishpond owners who wanted to extend their dikes to include the area. She take note of it until 2001 when as CRM Coordinator she spearheaded the formulation of the city's coastal zoning plan and the New Fishery and CRM Ordinance.It took persistence until the LGU was finally convinced of hiring community organizers to do ground work in target areas to ensure sustainability of CRM project. A community organizer was finally deployed in Culajao starting January 2007 with the aim of organizing and empowering fisher folks as partners and project beneficiaries of the city government. Katunggan sa Culajao Salbaron Association, Inc. (KACUSA) was organized with 19 fisher folk  members in January 27, 2007 and registered with SEC on September 19, 2007. KACUSA, Inc. was organized primarily to protect the mangrove reservation zone in Brgy. Culajao. The CRM coordinator organized mangrove seminars and exposure trips to mangrove projects where they saw the potential of an eco-park. She conduced strategic planning workshop with the group that they were led to craft their vision for the project to become a mangrove laboratory and an eco-tourism destination that would spur economic activities in the area and provide alternative  livelihood to members and other barangay residents. When the new Local Chief Executive assumed office, they invited him to see the mangrove trees they planted beginning April 2, 2007 and they were ready to present their plan for a mangrove ecopark. The Mayor then offered to appropriate an initial amount of  P100,000 for the construction of ecopark facilities. The CRM Coordinator provides the direction in the ecopark operations requesting technical assistance and provisions in kind from related agencies/institutions as needed.