Campus of University of The Philippines Los Baños - Areas - Upper Campus

Upper Campus

The College of Forestry and Natural Resources, College of Public Affairs, ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, National Arts Center, Philippine High School for the Arts, the site of the National Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, and the Center for Philippine Raptors are in the upper campus. It includes the entire 4,347-hectare (10,740-acre) Makiling Forest Reserve. It is also the site of the Bureau of Plant Industry-Makiling Botanic Gardens, one of the oldest parts of the campus. The gardens are located where the tents used as classrooms were set up during the first four months of the university's history.

The MFR serves as an outdoor laboratory to students, primarily of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources. ₱5 million (US$156,000) was designated for its conservation and development in 2011. The MFR was created in 1910 under the Bureau of Forestry. Jurisdiction over MFR was transferred to UP in 1960. The National Power Corporation acquired complete jurisdiction of the MFR in 1987 as part of the Philippines' energy development program under President Corazon Aquino. The MFR was returned to UPLB three years later under the terms of Republic Act 6967.

In 2008 Representative Del De Guzman of the 2nd district of Makati filed HB 1143, which, if passed into law, would have transferred 57.77 ha (142.8 acres) of the MFR to the jurisdiction of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. The bill was strongly opposed by UPLB, citing possible mismanagement and deforestation of the site if placed under the BSP, among other reasons. The bill has been pending in the House Committee on Natural Resources since August 2007.