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Maratita off to Hawaii
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Posted on Jun 09 2004
Saipan Rep. Janet U. Maratita traveled to Hawaii Sunday to attend a conservation habitat plan meeting organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife from June 6 to 10.
In a June 3, 2004 memorandum, Maratita said she would be on official travel with the Marianas Public Lands Authority officials.
After the Hawaii meeting, she said she will be on a personal leave to attend her son’s graduation in Salem, Oregon.
Maratita, who chairs the House Committee on Land and Natural Resources, traveled with MPLA officials, including board chair Ana Demapan-Castro and deputy commissioner Frank Eliptico, as well as the MPLA-Rota deputy commissioner.
Authorities said the meeting has something to do with U.S. agency’s plan to set up on Rota a critical habitat for the Mariana crow, a native bird that is federally listed as endangered.
This is part of the Service’s plan to comply with a court-approved agreement with an environmental group, the Centers for Biological Diversity, that sued the agency two years ago for its 1994 position that designating critical habitats for six federally endangered species in the Marianas—including the Mariana crow—was “not prudent.”
In relation, the environmental group also sought the halting of military bombing exercises on the Farallon de Mendinilla Island.
Critical habitat is defined as habitat that is needed by an endangered or threatened species to recover and that may require special management or protection.
Representatives from the Services earlier conducted an onsite visit to Rota to identify an ideal habitat for the Rota bird.
A proposed rule to designate critical habitat on Guam and Rota totaling some 30,886 acres was published in the Federal Register on Oct. 15, 2002.
Most of the acreage (24,802 acres) is within two proposed units on Guam, while the remaining 6.084 acres are within one unit on Rota.
A draft economic analysis indicated that over a 10-year period, direct costs that would be attributable to critical habitat on the two islands should be less than $555,000.
Most of the identified costs are associated with U.S. Navy projects, existing, proposed, or potential training activities outlined in the Marianas Training Environmental Impact Statement/Handbook.
