By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

VOLUNTEERS and representatives from environmental agencies did not mind the rain as they planted shrubs and installed a barrier to prevent stormwater from rushing down to the ocean at Obyan Beach on Saturday.
Twenty-six people including Coastal Resource Management Director John Joyner and Rep. Cinta M. Kaipat, Covenant-Saipan, planted the shrubs behind a portion of the area that they blockaded.
The barrier, according to Department of Lands and Natural Resources forestry technician Mike Saures, is a combination of shrubs, called nanaso, and coirs, or processed coconut fiber.
The shrubs, which the DLNR has started propagating, are good for erosion control, Saures said.
The coir, according to CRM natural resource planner Kathy Yuknavage is filled with twigs from iron wood then rolled to form a log-like barrier.
The group planted 41 shrubs and laid down three coirs.
This project, she said, is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Services’ management plan and aims to address concerns about stormwater flow reaching the shoreline.
Yuknavage said the coral road leading to the Obyan Beach area washes out during heavy rains.
When stormwater reaches the shoreline, soil enters the water and threatens coral reef health.
She said installing the barrier is the first of many different projects to reduce upland erosion at Obyan Beach.
“We would like to continue what we’ve done further down the slope,” she said, adding that they will ask DLNR’s Division of Parks and Recreation not to mow the grass which will help check the stormwater rushing down the slope.
The Natural Resources Conservation Services, she said, made the plan which was carried out by CRM in partnership with the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance and other CNMI government agencies.
The plan is being implemented, Yuknavage said, under the NRCS program called the wildlife habitat incentive program or WHIP from which any group can apply for grants.
The NRCS, she said, pays for 75 percent of the cost while the implementing group shoulders 25 percent which can be also matched with in-kind share of volunteers.
Joyner said the Obyan beach re-vegetation project shows the cooperation and coordination of various agencies “and it’s wonderful.”
He said any activity that helps to maintain and sustain natural resources is important.