Saipan Independent Rep. Tina Sablan, Saipan Republican Reps. Edward T. Salas and Ramon A. Tebuteb introduced House Bill 16-267 which seeks to establish 936,100 square meters of public lands, including areas that are currently designated by DPL for homestead development in Marpi, as protected area under the Commonwealth Mitigation Bank.
The mitigation bank was created during the 10th Legislature to safeguard the habitats of species and mitigate the impacts of commercial development.
There are at least three protected areas within the scope of the Mitigation Bank — the Bird Island Wildlife Preserve, the Kagman Conservation Area the Marpi Commonwealth Forest.
Sablan said they want to include portions of Marpi referred to in their bill to protect endangered species.
Early this year, several members of the public expressed concern upon learning that DPL cleared about 620,000 square meters of native and secondary forest in Marpi for unexploded ordnance removal in preparation for homestead development, without a public hearing and without a major siting permit from the Coastal Resources Management Office.
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant was used to clear the Micronesian megapode’s habitat. DPL promised to correct its error by designating a protected area for the birds.
Sablan said Marpi is not appropriate to develop for a village homestead because it lacks infrastructure; has no unusable groundwater resources; has thin soil which is incompatible with septic system installation; and is close to highly significant historic and cultural sites and protected areas, including endangered species habitats.
In a letter to the Legislature, Public Lands Secretary John del Rosario opposed the bill and accused lawmakers of trying to “usurp” the agency’s constitutional authority to manage public lands.
He argued that the current area of protected lands in Marpi is “more than adequately sufficient.”
“As there is no need for redundancy and to preserve its constitutional duties, the department respectfully requests this bill be shelved…. I believe the bill infringes on the department’s duties regarding the use, management and disposition of public lands for and on behalf of the people of the commonwealth,” he said in his letter addressed to Tebuteb, the chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Sablan said she asked Tebuteb to hold public hearings and solicit comments from the community before acting on the bill.
“I recognize that while many, myself included, may favor conservation of the area, others may favor mixed uses to include recreational parks and trails, agriculture, and ecotourism, and still others may indeed prefer homestead development or even limited commercial development,” she said.
She expressed hope that Del Rosario will agree with the bill’s intent.
“For me the important component that has thus far been missing in public land use management is the participation of the community in determining the best uses for our public lands — and particularly in the case of Marpi, one of the most beautiful, most environmentally sensitive, and most historically significant places on Saipan,” she added.
