Halt eviction order

Following a notice of eviction issued to owners of cattle ranches in Marpi by the Attorney General’s Office, lawmakers are now urging the administration to rescind the order which has a deadline on August 16.

The notice was given to ranchers last Aug. 2, leaving them with barely two weeks to relocate their cattle — a period that lawmakers have claimed is not enough and could prove to be costly.

The request to reconsider the eviction is part of a joint resolution adopted by the House this week, which has asked Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio and three government agencies to find ways to help the cattle ranchers.

Sponsored by House Floor Leader Oscar M. Babauta, HJR 12-15 stemmed from the plan by the government to implement its Mitigation Bank Agreement within the Marpi forest area in northern Saipan.

The development of the Saipan Upland Mitigation Bank began in 1996 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service disclosed that it would begin enforcing the provisions of the Federal Endangered Species Act in the CNMI.

Mitigation or conservation banks are designed to enhance habitat protection for species that are threatened or at risk of extinction. These provide alternative to the standard practice of having each developer or development project create and manage individual mitigation areas.

The 393-hectare facility in Marpi will make it easier for developers to meet their mitigation obligations in exchange for a fee paid to the local government, according to officials.

While the CNMI and USFWS still need to agree on certain requirements concerning the bank as well as on a legal accord to establish the program here, the island government is pushing with the plan in order to expedite various development projects that have slowed down pending its creation.

The Division of Public Lands has even offered a new agricultural grazing permit for up to five hectares to the cattle ranchers to encourage them to relocate from Marpi to a new farm site.

But the resolution noted that such offer of assistance has failed to factor in “tremendous financial burden” to the ranchers if they relocate, such as mobilization and putting up a new fence.

“[I]t is the feeling of the Legislature that the government should first consider a new site for its Mitigation Bank Agreement… [and] that the deadline set in the eviction notice is impossible to meet by cattle ranchers,” it read.

Although it won’t have a force of law, the resolution strongly recommended to the governor, AGO, DPL and the Department of Lands and Natural Resources to identify an alternative site for the implementation of the Mitigation Bank Agreement.

“[I]f the government cannot find a suitable alternative site… then it should reconsider a more reasonable dateline of eviction and financial assistance to the cattle ranchers,” added the resolution which is now up for Senate votes.

In a recent conference held on Saipan, local residents expressed concerns that the bank’s long delay is impeding prospective developers from pushing through with its expansion projects in lieu of a CNMI and a USFWS signed agreement.