5 Marpi ranches will be shut down

Only five cattle ranches will be shut down as a result of the decision by the CNMI government to begin implementation of Saipan’s mitigation site in the Marpi forest area.

But the government is not likely to force them to leave the area soon since local agencies responsible for the mitigation bank program are still weighing their next steps following appeal by House members to defer the eviction order issued two weeks ago.

Lands and Natural Resources Sec. Joaquin Tenorio said yesterday the department is hoping to pinpoint a relocation site accommodating the needs of the ranches that will be displaced from Marpi.

“We haven’t yet identified any area. We are still looking for some areas that will be most suitable than what they have presently asked for,” he told reporters in an interview.

The department has offered five hectares of public lands for each of the ranch to be displaced, but such assistance has failed to consider financial burden expected during the transfer, according to lawmakers.

Asked if the delay is worth it considering that only five ranches are going to be affected, the DLNR chief said it is the government’s responsibility to assist the owners in order to lessen the impact of the move.

“Yes, it’s worth it,” Mr. Tenorio explained. “It’s not the number. . . It’s the livelihood of these people that we have to consider.”
Ranch owners pay a fee of $100 each year to the government for the right to use these public lands. The grazing permit is renewable every year.

While the Division of Public Lands had notified the Marpi ranchers about the mitigation program, they had apparently refused to leave the area which forced the Attorney General’s Office to issue an eviction order last Aug. 2.

The House early this week stepped in to prevent shutdown of the ranches that was supposed to take effect last Wednesday. The ranchers have been granted a stay while the administration seeks other ways to address their concerns.

Ranch owners had sought the lawmakers’ help to give them more time to relocate as well as to demand financial assistance from the government if no alternative mitigation site has been identified.

DPL Director Bertha C. Leon Guerrero the other day maintained it will take a long time for the CNMI to find another site to implement its mitigation bank agreement with the federal government.

The process, she said, will need approval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and enactment into law by the Legislature.

In 1996, local legislators selected the Marpi forest area in northern Saipan to implement the Saipan Upland Mitigation Bank site to comply with the USFWS requirements on protection of endangered species and wildlife.

But the cattle has to be removed to allow the trees and the wildlife to grow in the area.

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.