Rep. Stanley T. Torres wants the nightingale reed-warbler removed from the endangered species list because it hinders development projects on island.
Torres, Ind.-Saipan, sponsored a House resolution calling on Sablan to look into this issue.
In his letter to Torres, Sablan said he believes that economic development should be balanced with the protection of the islands’ natural resources.
“Both the federal and CNMI governments chose to protect the nightingale reed-warbler and designated it as an endangered species because it is…only found in [our islands]. However, the federal government has provided a process to delist or downlist (reclassify a species from endangered to threatened),” said Sablan.
A mandatory review was conducted in the CNMI in 2007 and this process is done every five years.
Any entity or person from the CNMI may submit new information on the status of the species at any time to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, 300 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 3-122, Honolulu, HI 96850.
Last year, an official of the Fish and Wildlife Service said there was still a need to protect the nightingale reed warblers from extinction.
