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Kilili: 244 agri homesteads on Rota a step closer to reality
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Posted on Jan 03 2012
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
A 29-page memorandum of agreement between the CNMI and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding habitat protection for the Mariana crow on Rota will allow for the release and future development of 244 agricultural homesteads on Rota, Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP) said.
To offset the potential incidental take of the Mariana crow, an endangered species that is federally protected, 444 hectares of public land will be protected and managed as a conservation area, the delegate said.
“The CNMI government is responsible for designating land for the conservation area,” Sablan said in a letter to Rep. Teresita Santos (Ind-Rota).
Sablan said the agreement will be implemented as soon as USFWS completes a biological opinion and evaluation of the National Environmental Policy Act compliance, which is expected to be completed no later than the end of January 2012.
“To prevent further delays, I suggest you encourage the appropriate CNMI officials to designate the conservation area and complete any other provisions that are their purview,” Sablan added.
Santos, in a separate letter, thanked USFWS Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office deputy regional director Richard Hannan and the delegation members for their recent visit to the CNMI and in accepting the MOA that CNMI officials executed.
She said Rota is eagerly looking forward to the finalization of the MOA in order for the CNMI Department of Public Lands and the Department of Lands and Natural Resources “to begin their tasks as required under the MOA so that the pending agricultural homestead applicants on Rota could receive lots, in additional to the initiation of the islandwide MOA for the island of Rota.”
DPL proposes to release some 244 agricultural homesteads on Rota, a project that will result in the transfer of approximately 246 hectares or 608 acres of public lands to private ownership, and construction of right-of-way roads on an additional 32 hectares or 79 acres.
