DLNR, DFW summarize major concerns on CJMT

The Department of Lands and Natural Resources and its Division of Fish and Wildlife have summarized their major concerns with the U.S. military’s environmental impact documents for live-fire training.

The department says the military impact studies repeatedly underestimate the impacts on fish and wildlife species, habitats, and ecosystems, particularly from habitat clearance and noise levels.

Under all the training alternatives proposed for Tinian, there would be the removal of around 1,800 acres of forest and herbaceous scrub habitats that are used by native land birds like the Tinian monarch, the collared kingfisher, Mariana fruit dove, and white-throated ground-dove.

“The [draft environmental impact statement] does not individually address impacts to Mariana Island endemic species and species of special conservation need, which have the potential to be listed as threatened or endangered,” the department says.

The proposed actions will prevent the recovery of several threatened or endangered species, including the Mariana fruit bat, Micronesian megapode, nightingale reed-warbler, and Marianas common moorhen, the department also says.

“The military plan to increase their leasehold of CNMI lands to nearly one quarter of the CNMI land base will make it difficult for DLNR and DFW to effectively manage fish and wildlife populations in the CNMI.”

Adding up current military-leased lands plus proposed lands on Tinian and the entire island of Pagan, the military would occupy about 24 percent of CNMI land.

On impacts to other natural resources, the department says proposed actions on Tinian will have “irreversible impacts on the environment, in violation of the Tinian lease agreement.”

“The proposed amount of clearance of vegetation and wetlands, particularly of rare native limestone forest on Tinian and Pagan, is unacceptable, and proposed mitigation is insufficient or non-existent,” the department says.

The department also says the proposed relocation of the “Tinian Military Retention Land for Wildlife Conservation” without providing specific and sufficient details about the relocation is unacceptable.

Under the military’s preferred alternative, 7,200 Tinian monarchs—about 8 percent of the total population—will suffer loss of nesting and foraging areas. The impact documents also note unavoidable noise impacts to foraging Mariana common moorhens from large-caliber munitions near the military’s proposed “High Hazard Impact” area.

There has been concern from the CNMI’s side of the draft impact analysis about the lack of discussion on the benefits and disadvantages of mitigation methods like relocation of bird conservation areas, or the transplanting of coral species.

The military says, though, that mitigation plans won’t be finalized until they are spelled out in a “Record of Decision” that finalizes the military’s plans.