Previous Story
Restore Laulau Bay
|
Posted on Oct 01 2008
Last week, we learned about general attributes of a watershed. This week, let’s take a stroll over to Saipan’s east coast, specifically, the Laulau watershed.
Up to 200 dives are performed each day at the Laulau site, earning the title of Saipan’s best all-weather dive site. Island residents also continue to enjoy the area for various recreation activities.
Laulau bay is also special because it is a turtle nesting habitat and is an archaeological site.
However, sedimentation from the access roads and stream crossings continue to threaten the coral reefs. There continues to be beach driving and litter from parties on the beach.
In fact, the Coastal Resources Management Office began a collaborative partnership with the Division of Environmental Quality, Department of Public Works, Department of Lands and Natural Resources, Northern Marianas College, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, landowners, volunteer groups, residents, divers, and beach users. Through this partnership, revegetation efforts were implemented to curb the upland erosion, and another planting event is in the works.
While, the engineering design for the paving, drainage, and beach access improvements on Laulau bay drive is complete, the very big obstacle here is the $1.6 million (approximately) to fund the necessary improvements to control the sedimentation.
Beach users, meanwhile, can still make a difference by driving on access roads only and not on the beach. Users can also stop littering and dispose of trash in proper containers and better yet, recycle those cans, bottles and plastic items.
Remember, every act counts. Protect our coral reefs. [B][I](CoCo)[/I][/B]
