[2] The La Mesa Watershed encompasses an area of 2,659 hectares (6,570 acres) in the northern fringes of Quezon City, Caloocan and Rodriguez, Rizal.

[3] It centers on the 700-hectare (1,700-acre) La Mesa Dam and Reservoir in Novaliches, an artificial lake which was created in 1929 as part of Manila's Ipo–Novaliches–San Juan water system under the American colonial government.

[4] The surrounding 2,000-hectare (4,900-acre) forest contains more than 50 kilometers (31 mi) of nature trails and serves as the lungs of Metro Manila, providing it with clean air.

[11] In 2014, the La Mesa park ranger recorded a total of 25 informal settler families living within the reservation who engage in slash-and-burn cultivation or kaingin.

[12] In a 2013 vulnerability assessment by scientist Cristino Tiburan, the La Mesa Watershed Reservation was found to be prone to erosion and landslide.