The Department of Lands and Natural Resources is drafting a \u201cposition letter\u201d for the governor\u2019s signature on the proposed listing of 23 Marianas species under the Endangered Species Act. This letter, according to acting secretary Richard Seman, will represent a \u201cunified front\u201d against the proposed listing as it is now but would recommend that a majority of the species be taken off and separated from the original five candidate species for the ESA.<\/p>\n
Seman said they have briefed the governor, the Legislature, and the island\u2019s different mayors on the issue.<\/p>\n
Rota holds 11 of the 23 proposed species, and according to Seman, would be the island that is \u201cimpacted the most should [the listing] go through.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 17 [species] were add-ons that we felt did not provide us sufficient time to fully review and assess those individual species, whether they do warrant listing or not,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune yesterday.<\/p>\n
But Seman also indicated that the problem might not just lie with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife that proposed the listing, but with the larger framework of the ESA as a law and how its application may not bode well for the smaller islands of the CNMI.<\/p>\n
He called the ESA a \u201conce-size-fits-all\u201d kind of legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be treated the way they protect other species in the [United S]tates\u2014simply because they have larger land areas that can be used to mitigate [impact], whereas here, every little land that [the species] are present is a large land that we are losing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo use that type of system here\u2026it overwhelms us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He believes the ESA should be utilized so species are treated differently on a case-to-case basis.<\/p>\n
The Marianas reed warbler is an example of this, he said. According to Seman, the reed warbler is not endangered because of its low number in population, but it is believed to be found only on Saipan.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of its uniqueness, and how it\u2019s only found in one place\u2014according to the ESA\u2014it warrants protection. But if you look at the reed warbler it has since adapted to tangan tangan, which is not its original habitat. Tangan tangan is widespread now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Because of this, he claimed that over half of projects proposed on island could be slowed down by protections for the reed warbler.<\/p>\n
He said there should a different kind of formula on how the CNMI saves or protect the species, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf USFW Service Ecological program are the people who are facing this kind of situations on a regular basis, I believe they are the ones that can convey this kind of concern to the U.S. Congress for a necessary amendment to the Endangered Species Act. The [ESA] needs to amended to be more responsive to the type of species we are trying to protect,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
But when asked about this in a recent interview, USFW deputy supervisor Kristi Young clarified that the Service is not allowed to lobby Congress for an amendment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fish and Wildlife Service has no ability to push for those things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said what their agency has control over are the law\u2019s regulations. \u201cMost laws are very vague,\u201d she said, \u201cSo the agency that is assigned that law writes regulations. So that\u2019s where we have authority.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been proposing changes on how we implement critical habitat. We have been proposing the definition of \u2018adverse modification,\u2019 which has a lot do with consultation with federal agencies, and there are other ones in the works that haven\u2019t been proposed yet. That\u2019s how we\u2026modify how we meet the purposes of the Act through our own work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Young said since she has been at the Service in 1992 there have been no major changes to the law. Its major changes happened in the \u201870s, she said.<\/p>\n
The last amendment to the ESA, according to the Service website, was in 2004.<\/p>\n
The ESA is over 40 years old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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