Getting ready for Sunday

The trees from last week's planting are doing very well. It has rained almost every single night, so we haven't had to water them. Parks and Recreation came by the site earlier this week to put stakes around the small trees. The stakes and flagging tape will keep people from driving over them.

Parks and Recreation also donated 11 more flame trees to Beautify CNMI for our tree planting this Sunday. We are going to continue replacing the trees along Beach Road that are missing.

To make things even better, Sid Cabrera from NMC CREES coordinated with Joe Mendiola at DPW to get us a backhoe. They dug out the holes for the 11 trees this afternoon.

All we'll have to do on Sunday is carry the trees and potting soil from the RC&D office to the holes, round out the holes a bit with our shovels, and then water and plant the trees.

When we are finished with our planting on Sunday, there will be a flame tree every 30 feet along Beach road on the beach side from the Garapan Fishing Base to Gold Beach Hotel. In total we will have planted 22 trees in 13 days.

In the news again

Beautify CNMI to plant more trees

By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

BEAUTIFY CNMI will conduct another tree planting activity on Beach Road this weekend.

The tree planting activity spearheaded by the group’s restoration subcommittee will start at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Beautify CNMI group will be joined by members of MOVERS, an organization of Filipino workers on island.

They will plant trees in the areas between Saipan Gold Beach Hotel and the 13th Fishermen Pavilion.

This will be the third time that Beautify CNMI will plant trees along Beach Road.

The group’s first tree planting activity was held on June 19 near the 13th Fishermen pavilion. The plants were donated by the Division of Parks and Recreation.

On Sunday, June 25, the group and MOVERS planted seven flame trees in the area across from the Naked Fish restaurant.

Angelo Villagomez, public involvement coordinator for the Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Council Inc., said the volunteers had to break through a layer of compacted coral fill to get to the underlying soil.

Villagomez said the newly planted trees will replace those that have been damaged or destroyed.

The tree planting activity is part of the campaign to restore the natural beauty of the island.

Villagomez said they will work with local businesses and students of Northern Marianas College for their next tree planting project.

Their next target areas are along Middle Road, from Pizza Hut to the Chalan Monsignor intersection, the road to the airport from the Guangdong Hardware intersection, Airport Road, and the section of Middle Road going to Marpi.

Villagomez said they need more volunteers for tree planting activities.
Anyone who wants to contribute ideas, donate plants, drinking water, food or backhoes or provide any other assistance to Beautify CNMI can call the Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Council Inc. office at 236-0894.

Beautify CNMI is a coalition of government agencies as well as private sector and community organizations.

Better Late than Never

The Saipan Tribune reported on last Sunday's tree planting in their weekly Environment page, which is published on Thursdays.

Saipan Tribune, Thursday, June 29, 2006

Digging for trees

The beauticians of the Beautify CNMI! campaign are at it again-and this time they are digging for trees. On Sunday, June 25, volunteers gathered to "quarry" the rocky soil alongside Beach Road and plant seven flame trees.

Volunteers had to break through a layer of compacted coral fill to get to the underlying soil. Only after several inches of coral were extracted could the volunteers set aside their picks in favor of shovels.

The new trees replaced those that had been damaged or destroyed. The Department of Parks and Recreation donated the trees, while MOVERS, a Filipino volunteer organization, provided much of the brawn. Beautify CNMI! volunteers Corie Borja, Bob Schwalbach, Glen Hunter, Jed Horey, Capt. Carl Brachear, Gus Kaipat, and Josiah Lizama also supplied their muscle and sweat. Ken Kramer, Tina Sablan, and Angelo Villagomez, chairpersons within the Beautify CNMI! campaign, coordinated the event.

Beautify CNMI! is a coalition of citizens, private/volunteer groups and governmental entities united to enhance Saipan 's natural beauty for the benefit of its residents and visitors. The group identifies opportunities to collaborate with others, and then turns ideas into actions that improve the environment.

In their next project, Beautify CNMI! will work with businesses and students of the Northern Marianas Collage to plant trees and shrubs along Middle Road, from Pizza Hut to the Chalan Monsignor intersection. The students, members of Sam McPhetre's Current Issues class, will assist in creating a landscaping plan. Future planting areas include the road to the airport from the Guangdong Hardware intersection; Airport Road; and the section of Middle Road going to Marpi.

Saipan and the rest of the Marianas need more hardworking volunteers to plant trees. Anyone who wishes to contribute ideas, donate plants (or backhoes!), or volunteer assistance to Beautify CNMI can attend the next Restoration Subcommittee meeting. More details are available at Angelo Villagomez's blog at: hafa-adai.blogspot.com. Anyone interested in becoming an Earth Team Volunteer should contact Anton Tornito on Guam at (671) 472-7156, or antonette.tornito@pb.usda.gov. (PR)

SO 297

The current issues class at Northern Marianas College helped Beautify CNMI as part of their Summer class. The Restoration Committee asked them if they could make some recommendations for improving Middle Road.

They conducted a survey, took photos of the area, drew up some plans, and held a public meeting. After compiling all of their data they presented it to Beautify CNMI in a video.

I'm working on getting the video online, but in the meantime, here is the class posing with representatives from Beautify CNMI:

Plant those trees!

Just a quick video of our tree planting this past Sunday:

Not bad, huh?

I drank two cups of coffee and a cherry coke late last night and couldn't fall asleep, so I worked on the format for this blog (For the most part I just copied the RC&D blog format).

I'm going for simple, yet elegant.

I came up with and added to the template 7 different possible activites for the public to help Beautify CNMI advance her goals. They are listed on the top of the right hand column.

Also, if any Beautify CNMI members (you know who you are!) would like to be contributors to the blog, I'd be more than happy to make you a member. Once you are a member, you will be able to post stories and pictures directly to the blog. I'll give you a crash course in blogging if you need one.

Collect Recyclables at Liberation Day

The Recycling Committee of Beautify CNMI has a booth at this year's Liberation Day Festival. They are always in need of volunteers to help man the booth.

If you would be interesested in volunteering, please contact Tina Sablan at DEQ at 664-8500.

They need volunteers every night of the week.

Grow Trees at Home!

Beautify CNMI wants to plant over a thousand trees in our islands in the very near future, but right now we do not have enough trees.

We are going to develop a program where homeowners can grow trees for Beautify CNMI at home, but we aren't ready to implement this program.

If anybody would like to help us get this program started, please contact Angelo at RC&D. The RC&D office is in the DY Building in South Garapan along Beach Road. It is between Naked Fish and Ming Palace. The phone number is 236-0894.

Plant Trees!

The Restoration Committee of Beautify CNMI has several tree plantings planned during the rainy season. We are already in the process of replacing the dying or missing Flame Trees along Beach Road and we are also going to be working on a revegetation project in the Lao Lao watershed.

Please call Angelo or Ken at the Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Council if you would like to participate in upcoming plantings.

We can be reached at 236-0894 and our office is in the DY Building in South Garapan along Beach Road. We are between Naked Fish and Ming Palace.

Donate Water for Volunteers!

Planting trees can be hard work! Those volunteers get thirsty! They get hungry, too!

Volunteers that participate in tree plantings, stream and beach cleanups, or that man the Liberation Day recycling booth are donating their most valuable resource, their time.

We need to keep them happy, so we need to provide them with plenty of water and occasionally food, sodas, and other snacks. Our budget is limited, so Beautify CNMI has to rely on donations.

Please help us keep those volunteers happy! Please donate food, drinks, and water to Beautify CNMI.

Water bottles, sodas, snacks, or other food can be brought to the Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Office on Beach Road in South Garapan. We are between Naked Fish and Ming Palace.

Marianas RC&D is a non-profit corporation, so all donations can be considered an in-kind contribution for tax purposes.

Please contact Angelo Villagomez at 236-0894 to schedule a drop off.

Donate Broken 5 Gallon Water Jugs!

Beautify CNMI has plans to plant over 1000 trees in Saipan in the very near future. Since we do not have a budget, we are very limited it terms of funds. We need to look for creative ways to save money and still meet our goals.

Right now we do not have enough planters for the trees that we want to propogate.

However, cut the top off of a 5 gallon water jug and you have yourself a perfect planter. Not only do water jugs make great planters, but when you reuse them in this manner, we keep them out of the landfill.

We end up helping to Beautify the CNMI in two ways!

The Restoration Committee of Beautify CNMI is calling on local residents and businesses to donate thier broken 5 gallon water jugs to be used for tree planting activities.

Jugs can be brought to the Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Office on Beach Road in South Garapan. We are between Naked Fish and Ming Palace.

Please contact Angelo Villagomez at 236-0894 to schedule a drop off.

Flame Tree Planting

Marianas RC&D and Beautify CNMI are teaming up to replace some of the dying trees along Beach Road. We have plans to extend this program island wide, but first we want to replace the unhealthy (or missing) flame trees (Delonix regia), which are the CNMI's official tree, along the length of Beach Road. We also have plans to plant coconut trees along the edge of the beach, but we have a little more work to do before we can start planting them. Some of the government entities are hesitant to plant coconuts because they are afraid of falling coconuts killing a tourist.

Beautify CNMI kicked off the tree planting last Monday with a ceremony along Beach Road. Rep. Cinta Kaipat, Saipan Mayor Juan. B. Tudela, restoration subcommittee chair and acting Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Council Coordinator Ken Kramer, Division of Parks and Recreation director Tony T. Benavente, and Department of Public Works special project coordinator Joseph Muna Mendiola led the ceremonial shoveling of soil for the first planted tree using golden shovels.

They planted four trees on Monday.

This morning we planted 7 more and we couldn't have done it without the help of MOVER, a local community group.

They came to the RC&D office on Friday to inquire as to how they could get involved in Beautify CNMI. More specifically, they wanted to know how they could help us plant trees.

We said that we could probably get something together by the middle of next week, but that wasn't good enough for them. They wanted to do something NOW! Joe from Parks & Recreation said he could get us some trees if we drove over to pick them up, so that's what we did.

The planting on Monday was 80% ceremony and 20% tree planting, but this morning's planting was all about getting trees in the ground. On Monday they had the luxury of a backhoe. This morning we used shovels and picks.

I was more than a little discouraged when we started digging. I didn't realize that we'd be digging through compacted coral aggregate. The shovels alone were useless. We had to break up the coral with the picks first. (After about five inches of coral we reached soil, so don't think that we were wasting our time by planting trees on top of rock.)

The MOVER volunteers were amazing. From the smiles that were on everyone's faces the entire morning, you would have never guessed that we were digging through rock.

Here's Captain Carl taking a couple whacks with the pick:

This is the first tree being put in the ground. The MOVER President, Marites, is about to throw in the first shovel of dirt:

Here's Ken showing the MOVER volunteers how to properly plant a tree. After he showed them how to do it, they split up and planted the other 6 trees:

Representative Cinta Kaipat stopped by to thank us for our work. Here she is talking to and posing with the volunteers (photos courtesy of Gus Kaipat):

And the last tree of the day going in the ground:

This is the First Post

Hi, I'm Angelo Villagomez, the Public Involvement Coordinator for the Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Council. RC&D has been very involved in the creation and early development of Beautify CNMI.

I am the webmaster for the RC&D website and blog. Beautify CNMI and Marianas RC&D held a tree planting yesterday and after posting the pictures on the RC&D blog, I emailed the link around to other Beautify CNMI members...with the offer to create a blog for Beautify CNMI.

Rep. Cinta Kaipat took me up on that offer.

Doh!

This is the first post.

I'm going to backpost some of the newspaper articles from the last month, but this is the first post. The story telling begins here.

Saipan Waves discusses Beautify CNMI

There is a newly formed organization that is out and about to help make the CNMI more beautiful and attractive. The BEAUTIFY CNMI Coalition (I love the sound of that) has begun efforts to clean up and maintain the natural beauty of the islands of the Northern Marianas...

Click HERE to read the rest of the blog post.

Local People Solving Local Problems

This Editorial appeared on the pages of the Marianas Variety on Friday, June 23, 2006:

We all have to pitch in
By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

A COALITION of government agencies and private sector organizations, Beautify CNMI, has begun its tree planting activities and has put up a recycling booth at the Liberation carnival grounds across from the Kristo Rai Church.

This new group is one of the many organizations out there that are taking the initiative to do what must be done to make these islands a better place not only for visitors but for residents as well.

With the government broke and scraping for funds for its many obligations, residents will have to rely more and more on their own efforts to get most things done. The government cannot do everything for us. Nor should it do so.

Ensuring that we all live in a healthy, clean and safe environment is a never-ending task that requires all of us to do our part. It makes perfect economic sense to make this place more attractive to visitors. And it is common sense to help clean up the place we call home.

We are hoping that more groups, more communities and more individuals will lend a hand to Beautify CNMI.

(For more information, call DEQ at 664-8500 or Marianas Resource Conservation & Development at 236-0894.)

Beautify CNMI in the News

Saipan Tribune, Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Beautify CNMI kicks off tree planting project
Story by Ferdie de la Torre

The Beautify CNMI's subcommittee on restoration officially kicked off yesterday morning its tree planting project with a symbolic planting of four flame trees along Beach Road near the 13 Fishermen's Monument in Garapan.

Rep. Cinta Kaipat, Saipan Mayor Juan. B. Tudela, restoration subcommittee chair Ken Kramer, Division of Parks and Recreation director Tony T. Benavente, and Department of Public Works special project coordinator Joseph Muna Mendiola led the ceremonial shoveling of soil for the Beautify CNMI's first planted tree.

Kaipat said it is only the beginning of their effort to beautify the CNMI by looking at various sites on island to plant flame trees and other beautiful trees and flowers "that will help enhance the beauty of our islands."

Kaipat recalled that his late father, Francisco Borja Kaipat, when he worked for the agriculture program for the Marianas in the 1960s, led a group of people who planted about 800 to 900 flame trees on Saipan.

"The old flame trees that we see today are the product of that work," said the representative, who is behind the Beautify CNMI campaign.

She said she is not sure where his father got all the flame tree seedlings, but she believes he got them from Hawaii where he did a lot of training then.

"This has become a kind of family tradition. My late brother, Saturn, who worked for the Marianas Vistors Bureau, also worked on the planting of flame trees in [the] Marpi area," she said.

"Now, I'm here sort of standing in to continue the tradition and I am so thrilled that people like Ken [Kramer] and all the wonderful people of the Beautify CNMI campaign who also believe that we need to plant more trees," Kaipat added.

Kramer said the four flame trees are symbolic of the many trees that their group is going to plant in various areas on the island.

When asked how many trees or plants they are aiming for, Kramer was quick to respond: " As many as it takes to make this place a nice place to live in."

Aside from flame trees, Kramer said they are also going to plant gold showers, plumerias, coconut trees, and other types of trees.

The Division of Parks and Recreations provided the flame trees for planting.

Tudela said the tree planting is one of the projects of the Beautify CNMI.

"Today we will be planting trees to show the public that we're still interested in having the trees grow for the shade and for the beautification of the island," Tudela said.

Angelo Villagomez, a member of the restoration subcommittee, earlier said that members and volunteers, in conjunction with some government agencies, are going to replace some of the damaged and dying flame trees on Beach Road.

Villagomez said the tree planting will also be along Airport Road, Middle Road, and the northern part of the island.

Beautify CNMI is a coalition of different government agencies and private sectors. Its mission is to support a "comprehensive and collaborative partnership between the citizens of the Commonwealth, the government and private sectors, and non-profit organization by establishing a comprehensive beautification campaign through enhancement and enforcement of legislation through public education on recycling, restoration and waste management."

Beautify CNMI in the News

Saipan Tribune, Monday, June 12, 2006

Zero tolerance month eyed vs littering, illegal dumping
Story by Ferdie de la Torre

The Beautify CNMI is planning to have one month declared as zero-tolerance month, to go after people engaged in littering and illegal dumping in the CNMI.

Steve Hiney, chairman of the Beautify CNMI's anti-littering/illegal dumping subcommittee, disclosed that one of the things that their group is working on is to enforce zero tolerance against littering or illegal dumping for a month or a couple of weeks, similar to the zero tolerance campaign against those not wearing seat belts.

Under the program they will bridge the enforcement and outreach activities, said Hiney during Friday's official launching of the Beautify CNMI at the Division of Environmental Quality's conference room.

He explained that to realize the project, they need to have coordination among concerned agencies by gathering together DEQ, the Department of Public Safety, Department of Public Health, Department of Public Works, Department of Public Lands, and the Marianas Visitors Authority. These agencies have their respective anti-littering enforcement officers and it is the group's plan to bring all these enforcement personnel together in a coordinated drive against littering.

Hiney said they want to make sure that the people issuing citations to violators are trained or certified to do so.

The chairman also mentioned that one of the first things that the group discussed in their meeting was the need to educate people on the difference between littering and illegal dumping.

"Litter is typically when you're driving down the street or walking on the side of the road and you drop a can or small bag of trash. That is littering," he said.

"One of the things that we want to look as a working group is to have a stage or phase level of fines that.the more you dump, the more you pay," he said.

Hiney said in their outreach campaign, there is a need to coordinate agency outreach materials such as flyers, posters, videos and other things.

During the launching of the group, the subcommittees announced various ongoing and upcoming community projects. Aside from Hiney, present were Tony Benavente of the subcommittee on junk goods, Tina Sablan of the recycling subcommittee, Angelo Villagomez of the restoration subcommittee, Lysander Tudela of the Northern Marianas College, and Reina Camacho of the outreach/publicity subcommittee.

Beautify CNMI is a coalition of different government agencies and private sector.

Beautify CNMI in the News

Saipan Tribune, Sunday, June 11, 2006

Group: 18,000 junk cars on the island
Story by Ferdie de la Torre

There are an estimated 18,000 junk cars scattered all over the island, according to the Beautify CNMI's subcommittee on junk goods. Most of them are on private lots, auto shops, and other places.

Tony Benavente said his subcommittee wants to eliminate environmental hazard and risk by reducing the number of junk cars, scrap metals, household appliances on roadways and residential area on Saipan.

The subcommittee's concern is lack of adequate funding for the proper equipment to remove these 18,000 junk cars and scrap metals, said Benavente, who is representing the Saipan Mayor's Office, during Friday's official launching of the Beautify CNMI.

Beautify CNMI is an environmental coalition of different government agencies and private sector.

Steve Hiney of the Department of Public Works agreed with Benavente's estimate of junked cars on the island.

Hiney and Benavente also cited the lack of land that could be used as storage/disposal area for these junk goods.

Benavente said that two weeks ago, they had a meeting with a potential company in Guam that is ready to collect and ship out these cars off-island.

"At this time, we are in the early stage. What we are trying to do right now is identify the places where we usually find junk cars," he said.

If everything goes well, Benavente said, probably by late November or early December the hauling of these cars as well as scrap metals will start.

In the meantime, Benavente said they are advising the owners of these junk cars to be ready when the times comes for the chosen firm to pick these items up.

He said he has seen places were junk cars are piled up as the shops closed and leave the cars.

"Just like a couple of months ago, there was a guy trying to have the Mayor's Office get rid of probably 15 junk cars from the person that leased the place from him. But we could not do it because in the first place that was a commercial establishment," he added.

Beautify CNMI in the News

Saipan Tribune, Saturday, June 10, 2006

Beautify CNMI takes off with projects in sight
Story by Ferdie de la Torre


The "Beautify CNMI," a coalition of different government agencies and private sector, was officially launched yesterday with the announcement of various ongoing and upcoming community projects.

During a news briefing at the Division of Environmental Quality's conference room in Gualo Rai, Tina Sablan, chair of the Group's recycling subcommittee, briefly explained the history behind the establishment of the Beautify CNMI.

Sablan also read the group's mission or vision, which was prepared by Rep. Cinta Kaipat.

Sablan said the vision is to put up a "comprehensive and collaborative partnership between the citizens of the Commonwealth, the government and private sectors, and non-profit organization by establishing a comprehensive beautification campaign through enhancement and enforcement of legislation through public education on recycling, restoration and waste management."

She said the goal of the recycling subcommittee is to reduce waste through the promotion of recycling on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.

"We focused on three pilot projects," said Sablan, citing the ongoing recycling awareness program at Fishing Base, the site of the Liberation Day carnival.

"We've got Power Inc. volunteers monitoring the ground, collecting aluminum cans and plastic bottles from the carnival ground," she said.

The Division of Environmental Quality provided the recycling bins, while Pacific Trading contributed the banners, and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce gave the cash incentive.

Sablan said their two other projects are a school recycling program and a Managaha recycling program.

Angelo Villagomez, who appeared at the conference on behalf of restoration subcommittee chairman Ken Kramer, mentioned three projects that they are going to implement.

"Saipan is a beautiful place, but there are a few areas on island that need a little improvement. That's where the restoration sub-committee comes in," Villagomez said.

Villagomez said their first priority is tree planting.

"Later this month, members and volunteers are going to replace some of the damaged and dying flame trees on Beach Road in conjunction with some government agencies," he said.

Kramer's group also has plans to plant trees throughout the island during the rainy season.

"We already identified Airport Road, Middle Road, and the northern part of the island as areas where we want to do our first planting," Villagomez said.

In the meantime, he said they are looking for volunteers who could donate old five-gallon containers that they can use as planters.

In their improvement pilot project, Villagomez said they have identified the Middle Road area between Pizza Hut and Chalan Monsignor Guerrero intersection as the place that will benefit from the restoration plan.

He said they are working on the project with the Coastal Resources Management and Northern Marianas College to come up with the plan on how to improve the area.

Finally, Villagomez said, they are going to work on the restoration and the protection of numerous historic sites.

Also present in the conference were subcommittee officials and members Lysander Tudela of NMC, Tony Benavente of the Mayor's Office, and Steve Hiney of the Department of Public Works. They also disclosed their group's projects.

Beautify CNMI in the News

Saipan Tribune, Sunday, June 4, 2006

Recycling project takes off at Lib Day site
Story by Ferdie de la Torre

The Beautification Group, a coalition of different government agencies and private sector, kicked off Friday one of its community projects-a place for recycling awareness-at the Liberation activities venue at Fishing Base in Garapan.

Tina Sablan, chair of the group's recycling subcommittee, told the media that it is part of the "Beautify CNMI" campaign headed by Rep. Cinta Kaipat with the participation of the government, private sector, non-profit organizations and individual volunteers.

"The Liberation Day committee has shown their full support. One of the projects of the recycling subcommittee that I chair is to promote recycling in the community and this is the first time that we're doing this," Sablan said.

She said the Division of Environmental Quality is providing the materials needed for the recycling program, while Power Inc. will be providing volunteers to watch the recycling containers throughout the festival.

"They [volunteers] are going to be reminding residents where they should put their plastic bottles and aluminum cans," Sablan said.

The recycling containers, she said, will be distributed around the carnival grounds.

"Power Inc. will be coming in every night to pick up the cans and bottles and take them down to the transfer station," Sablan said, adding that the Saipan Chamber of Commerce is providing funds for the project.

"This is just the start of the Beautify CNMI campaign. There will be more projects to come," she added.

Tony Cabrera, overall chairman of the Liberation Day committee, thanked Sablan for initiating the project at the Liberation Day festivity grounds.

Cabrera said recycling is a habit where the CNMI should continue educating people.

"The schools, the businesses are involved and DEQ is spearheading the program," Cabrera said.

Tony Benavente of the Mayor's Office said Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela fully supports the newly created intergovernmental beautification task force, with DEQ as the main coordinator for the whole group.

"The mayor is asking the cooperation of the public both here at the site and everywhere on Saipan to please let's keep our island beautiful and clean," Benavente said.

Steve Hiney, consultant of the Department of Public Works solid waste management issues, said DPW Secretary Jose S. Demapan is a big supporter of efforts toward preserving the pristine environment of the islands.

" Really this is just a beginning. This is our first kick off of what's going to be a multifaceted beautification effort. It is not just recycling but it is dealing with littering, dealing with public education." Hiney said.