It protects an important watershed that serves as the water source for the surrounding communities in the municipality of Salcedo.

It had an initial area of 174 hectares (430 acres) proclaimed as the Santa Lucia Watershed Forest Reserve in 1938 through Proclamation No.

[2] The Santa Lucia Protected Landscape encompasses an area of 174.16 hectares (430.4 acres) in the rural barangay of Balidbid in Salcedo municipality (formerly Baugen).

The protected area is located on the north bank of the Buaya River.

[1] It is bordered on the north by the barangay of Calangcuasan, on the east by Madarang and Bago Creek, on the south by the Buaya River, and on the west by the lowlands of Salcedo's poblacion.