Woes face wetland owners

Twelve years ago, Tony Cabrera was supposed to develop his more than two hectares of land in Chalan Piao, but was stopped by the US Army Corps of Engineers because it might affect the wetland located in his property.

This led Cabrera to seek a land exchange for his 1.7 hectare and give away the 1.1 hectare of wetland to the CNMI government. Five years after, he is still awaiting the property that was supposed to be exchanged for his land.

Cabrera is not alone in this situation. Many people are having difficulty converting their wetlands due to the strict requirements imposed under the Clean Water Act, a federal law.

Conversion of wetland must be made under the no-net-loss concept, which simply means that every area of wetland converted must have a corresponding area of nearby upland area converted into a wetland. The sensitivity of the area must be determined by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

“It is so complicated for the landowner that they would really find it difficult to go through the whole process,” said acting Coastal Resources Management Martin Castro.

CRM has the regulatory jurisdiction over mapped wetland areas, which by law have been established as Areas of Particular Concern. It also requires permits for wetland development and prioritize allowable uses within wetlands.

Joeten Enterprises, one of the biggest local companies, was able to seek a conversion of its 2.17 hectares of land in August 1994 where Price Costco is now located after it had to go through a mitigation process because the Marianas Moorhen, an endangered specie is found in the area.

A private land owner must have enough resources since he may be required to hire a private firm with biological expertise in determining the value of the wetland, and such requires a substantial amount of money.

In the land exchange deal, two issues must be answered, said Castro: Does the government have the money to compensate the owner of the wetland? Does the government have the land to trade?

Unfortunately, the CNMI government does not even have enough resources to pay the landowners. In fact, it has not even compensated the people whose lands have been covered by the road widening project.

The Department of Lands and Natural Resources estimates that 64 percent of the Commonwealth’s wetlands have been converted. Most of these conversion occurred during the Japanese colonial period, from 1919 to 1944, as a result of sugar cane cultivation and urban development before and during World War II.

Presently, there is little wetland conversion, resulting from development and infrastructure improvements. Loss of wetland has been mitigated to a certain extent. Some of the present threats to Commonwealth wetlands include the introduction of exotic species such as tilapia, water hyacinth and hydrilla and unregulated groundwater withdrawal adjacent to wetland areas such as the Magpo Wetland on Tinian.

Lake Susupe and its large, contiguous reed marsh and swamp on the Western Coastal plain of Saipan comprise over 60 percent of the freshwater wetlands in the CNMI.

Smaller marshes on Saipan, two lakes on Pagan and Lake Hagoi and Magpo swamp on Tinian make up most of the remainder.

On Saipan, there are approximately 590 hectares of palustrine wetlands, four acres of lacustrine wetland, and over 100,000 linear feet of riverine wetland. In addition to the freshwater and slightly brackish marshes and lakes, there are a few small mangrove stands in the Lower Base area.