Patrick Souza, chief of the department’s endangered species division, said there is no justification to remove the bird from the endangered species list.
“Our office will continue to work closely with the CNMI to conserve the nightingale reed warbler. It is our hope that areas such as the Saipan upland mitigation bank in Marpi will help protect this species, found only in the Mariana Islands,” Souza wrote to Rep. Stanley T. Torres, R-Saipan.
The lawmaker said certain land development projects are on hold because some locations have become the bird’s natural habitat.
The nightingale reed warbler can be found only in the Northern Marianas.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the reed warbler as an endangered species on Dec. 2, 1970.
Torres said the birds inhabit several acres of public property that could have been developed for different projects.
According to Souza, the nightingale reed warblers’ population dropped by over 50 percent between 1982 to 2007, thus, it must be kept on the endangered species list.
