(TTT) — This week, Tåno Tåsi yan Todu will welcome more than 300 people from community, academic, and governmental institutions in Guåhan and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and abroad. The sixth Mariana Islands Conservation Conference or MICC will be held in Saipan at the Crowne Plaza Resort from Feb. 26 to March 1.
As always, the event is free and open to the public and will be live-streamed.
Established in 2017, the conference was formerly called the “Marianas Terrestrial Conservation Conference.” The conference focused on a range of topics, including habitat restoration, species recovery, invasive species, forest ecology, and native bird conservation. This year, educators, students, and experts working on coral reef conservation and other marine topics will join in the discussions and presentations. To recognize the more expansive focus of the conference, it is now called the “Mariana Islands Conservation Conference.”
The MICC was organized to foster collaboration and to share insights regarding conservation initiatives and projects. The week-long event will include presentations of ongoing research and conservation initiatives, field trips, professional development workshops, and a career fair focused on jobs in conservation.
Beginning Monday, Feb 26, the MICC, will feature experts discussing the recovery of bird species, forest habitats, and coral reefs. Following the research presentations, students and faculty from Northern Marianas College, University of Washington, Colorado State University, and the University of Guam.
On Tuesday, (Feb 27, the MICC will hold a professional development workshop from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The workshop will match students and early-career professionals to discuss career paths, education requirements and qualifications, tactics to improve and build resumes, and opportunities to volunteer and gain experience for a career in conservation.
The workshop will be followed by a job fair from 4 to 5 p.m. More than 16 organizations will participate, including Friends of the Mariana Trench, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife, and MANGO or Marianas Alliance of Non-Governmental Organizations. Members of the community, students, and individuals interested in a career in conservation are encouraged to attend both events.
Later in the week, on Wednesday, participants registered to attend the conference will join experts in the field, in Rota, Luta, and Saipan, to participate in a survey of Fanihi and to support a bird misnetting project. Others will join 500 Sails on the water, or will learn about traditional medicine from Master Healer Donald Mendiola, or one of the other several field trips coordinated for registered participants.
On Friday, TTT is excited to feature three scientists from the islands of Micronesia for the closing plenary panel. Dr. Harmony Yomai is from Chuuk and Yap, and obtained a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, in 2021. Since completing her studies, Dr. Yomai was selected as a post-doctoral research associate at Iowa State University and Virginia Tech’s Ecology Bird Loss Project. Dr. Ann Marie Gawel is a Chuukese woman, who was born in Pohnpei and grew up on Guåhan. Currently, she is David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow, studying ecological and societal values of natural resources, with a focus on Micronesian forest resources. Dr. Nicole Yamase grew up in Palau, Saipan and Chuuk and Pohnpei, and recently obtained a Ph.D. in Marine Biology, at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In 2021, Dr. Yamase became the first Pacific Islander and the third woman to visit Challenger Deep, the deepest known part of the Mariana Trench. She is currently the director of impact at One Reef.
TTT thanks the Office of Insular Affairs’ Technical Assistance Program, Sedgwick County Zoo, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, Saint Louis Zoo, the Guam Economic Development Authority, Nihi Indigenous Media, Blue Ocean Law, and Camacho and Taitano LLP Attorneys at Law for their generous support.
To register for the conference, and to learn more about the annual MICC, visit: https://www.marianasterrestrialconservation.org and email tanotasitodu@gmail.com for questions and further discussions about the event.
