Conservation grants awarded

Interior Department announced funding for protection of coral reefs in the Marianas and to protect endangered species.

• $200,000 to NOVA Southeastern University in Florida to support Coral Fellows in American Samoa, Guam, the Marianas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• $239,898 to the CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources to conserve and protect two rare species of trees (trongkon guåfi and Osmoxylon mariannense) and an herb (Nesogenes rotensis), native to Rota and endangered by deer and mealybugs.
• $124,435 to the CNMI Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality to fund participation in Coral Reef Task Force meetings, expansion of a coral nursery, and planning to reduce damage from the Crown of Thorns Sea-Star in Rota and Tinian.

Congress appropriated $2,500,000 for this purpose in all the insular areas in FY19. The Trump administration has proposed cutting that back to $948,000 in FY20. The House, however, passed on June 25 an Interior Department appropriation bill for FY20 that keeps funding at $2,500,000.