By B.B.
For Horizon

We recently saw workmen cutting down old coconut palms standing on the sides of the roads and trimming the branches of trees that were interfering with telephone and power lines on our primary and secondary roads. Those road clearing works were absolutely necessary and we commend our public works people for doing a good job. Just the same, the sight of so many green plants, particularly the coconut palms and the healthy fruit bearing trees, being destroyed, made us sad because there have been no attempts, either by the National and State Governments or by individual property owners, to replace with new trees what had to be cut down because they interfered with power and telephone lines.
This is not right. As we observe International Earth Day 2007, April 22, we also should respond positively to the plaintive request, which the little girl in the eye-catching posters we see in public parks and at many other places in town, asks us to do. While we keep our environment clean at all times, as she requests, we must also do something to save the important natural assets of our country for the benefit of those who will come after us. Most of the lands on Babeldaob and other islands of Palau where coconut trees once stood in impressive numbers have been reclaimed by wild shrubs and useless weeds. A coconut replanting program should be initiated by the Government to bring these tall, majestic trees back to the islands of Palau.
The dormant Division of Agriculture, if it still exists in the Ministry of Resources and Development, should be resurrected to spearhead the program. Private landowners should be encouraged to join the effort. Other useful trees and plants (Mango, breadfruit, mahogany, jungle timber trees, including mangrove trees)) should be included in the program. Some years back, the Government had a program which encouraged school students and the residents of all the islands in Palau to plant a few useful trees on their lands or on available nearby public lands during the summer times. That program, too, should be resurrected and implemented. It is important for the health of our jungles (trees and watersheds) and for the survival of Palau’s endemic species of birds and animals.
The sewer lines smell again
I recently visited the Public Works area to deliver a message to a nephew who works at the Water Distribution Section there. It was mid-morning and I was surprised to see almost the entire water crew sitting around doing nothing. "Don’t you fellows have work to do?" I asked them. "Yes, we have lots of work to do, but we don’t have fuel for our vehicles to move about. They tells us that local gasoline stations no longer allow us to get fuel on credit, that’s why we are stuck here," the water people explained.
While the water workers were sitting in their office for lack of fuel to move about, some areas along the sewer line system have begun to smell terrible. The one on Lebuu Street below Palasia Hotel at Dngeronger Hamlet is particularly bad. Others at Medalaii and Malakal also need attention. The manhole at the pump station near the turn of the Road to the Hospital in Meyuns spewed effluents unto the side of the street for two days. Who should correct all of these problems?