Steve Limtiaco

slimtiaco@guampdn.com

The National Park Service will study Rota during the next several years to determine whether it's suitable to designate it as a unit of the national park system, the park service announced recently.

The study is mandated in a 2014 federal law, at the request of CNMI Del. Gregorio "Kilili" Camacho Sablan. The study is one of eight nationwide authorized by the law.

As it stands, the only national park in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is the 133-acre American Memorial Park on Saipan.

Public meetings for the project are scheduled in February, in both the CNMI and at the new Guam Museum.

“It will be up to Congress, in collaboration with the CNMI government, to choose whether to take an action, regardless of the results of the study,” the Park Service stated on its project website.

The Park Service will study Rota’s prehistoric and historic resources and its limestone forests. It plans to begin gathering information through research and community outreach.

“Establishing a Rota national park has been part of my legislative agenda since my first term in Congress,” Sablan said in December 2014, after the law was passed. He said the Park Service, during a 2005 reconnaissance of Rota, identified areas of national significance, but a suitability and feasibility study is necessary for Congress to make its decision.

“Creating a Rota national park will still require active participation by the people of Rota,” Sablan said. “But adding the national park brand to Rota has the potential to make the island an international destination for tourists, a game changer for Rota’s economy.”

The Park Service plans to hold several meetings in February to introduce the study and answer questions, followed by two online meetings in March.

MEETINGS