Beautify CNMI in the News

Cinta Kaipat leads our tree planting on Thursday

We had a few stories in the local papers this week.  We had our first meeting on Monday and planted our first trees on Thursday.  Here are some of the highlights:

Beautify CNMI is Back

BEAUTIFY CNMI, the coalition of community, business and government organizations that brought people together 10 years ago to clean and beautify the islands, is here again to “infect” the people with the “beautify virus.”

Former Rep. Cinta M. Kaipat and environmental activist Angelo Villagomez, two of the key organizers of Beautify CNMI, met with other volunteers in the Hyatt Regency Saipan’s Chamolian Room on Monday to see “if we all can work together again.”

Kaipat Revives Beautify CNMI

“It is a diverse group that broke down boundaries. It is a group united by a common goal of taking care of the environment, enhance the CNMI’s natural beauty, and foster community pride in its residents,” said Kaipat.

Angelo Villagomez, who is one of the founders of Beautify CNMI!, has been involved in various community volunteer works before moving to the mainland. He is now based in Washington, D.C. but is on island to help Kaipat reorganize the group.

Kaipat said that her goal is not to replace the current post-Typhoon Soudelor work being done by various other groups but to enhance what they have been doing.

“We are not only making it beautiful for us but also for the tourists and for our children. We want to revive the campaign and join it with other work being done on the island today,” added Kaipat, who shared a lot of stories of volunteers that helped them in various projects.

Solid waste disposal is main concern of Beautify CNMI!

Proper disposal of solid waste on the island—especially those left by Typhoon Soudelor—became the center of discussion of the first meeting of reviving the people-centered group Beautify CNMI!

The core group, which answered former representative Cinta Kaipat’s invitation to attend the meeting, agreed that some of the problems that the community is facing right now is garbage left by those who spend weekends at the beach or trash dumped in random places by some people

Beer and soda cans, plastic bottles, disposable plates and utensils, cigarette butts, boxes, straws, burger wrappers, diapers, and other household thrash are the regular things collected during beach cleanups.

Rep. Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan) said the challenge right now is how to keep one area clean and some people don’t have the money to get the services of a trash collection agency.

“As soon as you finished cleaning up one place, trash would appear in another. Either illegally burn it or throw it somewhere else,” said Propst, who together with Rep. Vinnie Sablan (Ind-Saipan) are thinking of possible laws that they could file at the Legislature.

Beautify CNMI to plant commemorative tree tomorrow

“We’ve planted several hundred flame trees along Beach Road also in Koblerville and several other places around the island,” Villagomez said.

He also credited those who came first to plant the trees that have become a trademark and identity of the CNMI.

“The flame trees by the beach were actually started many, many years ago, in the ’60s, ’70s,” Villagomez said, “Somebody has always stepped up and planted flame trees but it’s actually something that’s existed for 30 years.”

Villagomez said that while it is sad that those trees were gone, it is our responsibility to beautify the CNMI again.

“They were blown away. It’s really sad how much this island lost from the typhoon. People lost their homes, and we lost one of the naturally beauty. But as caretakers of this island, it’s our responsibility to fix up that which was broken,” Villagomez said.

Beautify International

First posted on The Saipan Blog.

Mom asked me to help out with Catie's girl scout meeting today. She said something like, "We're planting trees and I want you to make sure we're doing it right." I never turn down the opportunity to dig some holes, so I donned my Beautify CNMI 2nd Anniversary shirt and we drove out to Lake Highland Preparatory School.

Catie's girl scout troop is based at her school and the meetings are in her 4th grade classroom. Mom and another parent are the den mothers. They fed the girls apples, cheese, and Oreos and then talked with them about the planting by telling them what plants they would be planting and what benefits they would have to the environment.

Then it was time to march from the classroom down to the lake where we were going to plant our plants.

Each of the girls carried a plant while Mom directed traffic.

The lake is right behind the school and we just had to walk a short way. The lake is fenced off and the girls were very excited to be going "beyond the locked gate."

I was going to make "Beyond the Locked Gate" the title of this post but decided to go with Beautify International to take the focus off the girls and put it back on me. This is my blog, after all.

:)

We dug our nine holes right along the shore of the lake. The soil was very rich and wet, not rocky and hard like on Saipan. Even so, the 60 lbs girls needed some help from the 210 lbs fat boy wearing the blue shirt.

The edge of lake is kind of smelly and some of the girls didn't like it. Some of the girls didn't mind the smell and the mud, while a few others wanted to wash their hands immediately after touching the ground.

When Catie bent over to transfer her plant to the ground she found a worm. Catie doesn't like worms.

I pulled the worm out and showed it to the rest of the girls. I would say they were cautiously interested.

A big thanks to the girl scouts of Lake Highland for letting me participate in their planting and lake cleanup. I enjoyed every moment.

And how about if we finish this post with some birds:

Beautify CNMI in the Philippines

I received this email from Beautify CNMI volunteer Captain Carl today:

Angelo,

Another "Beautify CNMI" across borders, a Liang Liang tree
planted on the Farm At San Benito, Batangas, PI. The tree is used in
natural healing. I am wondering if it goes here on Saipan. Will
check later this week. Have a good evening.

Carl

Thanks, Carl!

Adopt a Flame Tree Update

In 2007 Beautify CNMI planted about 200 Flame Trees (I think) as part of our Adopt-a-Flame Tree Program. 6 of those trees were planted in American Memorial Park last June during our Micronesia Challenge Summer Camp and they were adopted by Barney Ono, a Japanese citizen living in Japan who has kept track of Beautify CNMI via the Internet.

I had the chance to visit those six Flame Trees earlier this morning and I am happy to report that they are all doing very well. This picture was taken next to the largest of the six.

Barney, the next time you visit Saipan, make sure you look for your six healthy Flame Trees growing in our local National Park.

Goings on

Hafa Adai,

PTI has generously donated a cellphone to MINA to help us with the coordination of Beautify CNMI. They are also donating DSL to help us with our day to day operations.

The new Beautify CNMI volunteer line is 285-MINA (6462). Please save that number!

Thank you PTI!

We've got a few non-volunteer events going on this weekend. I hope you can make it!

Friday (today)

The USS Germantown is in town with 700 sailors and marines. On Friday morning, 100 marines are going to be paired up with 100 elementary students from Garapan Elementary for a cleanup of the Garapan Tourist District set to begin at 9:30 AM. We are going to meet at the AMP Parking lot. Everyone is invited to participate, but it would be great if we could get people from MVA, Fiesta, Hyatt, and PDM Promoters to attend. This is already going to be a huge event. Let's make it even bigger.

I'll have garbage bags and gloves for everyone. I'm going to provide water, unless someone wants to donate some (hint, hint). The soldiers are going to bring lunch.

People who attend the Friday cleanup will be invited for a special tour of the USS Germantown on Saturday morning. After the tour we'll have lunch in the ship's messhall. They're not giving open tours to the public, so this may be your only chance to see the ship!

Saturday

Everyone who attended the cleanup of Garapan on Friday will be invited to a tour of the USS Germantown. I'll give out the details at the cleanup on Friday, but the tour will be on Saturday morning.

DEQ also has their monthly cleanup brigade event. This month they will be cleaning Tank Beach. Meet them at Tank Beach in Kagman at 8 AM. Contact Reina Camacho at DEQ for more info, 664-8500.

Sunday

We've got a handful of Flame Trees left to plant. Thank you to everyone who has adopted one so far. I haven't compiled the numbers (because some were planted while I was gone) and I haven't printed up the certificates, but I know we've planted over 150 Flame Trees this year.

We are going to replace some of the Flame Trees on Beach Road. We're meeting across the street from Naked Fish at 8 AM. If you don't see us, just look for the people with trees and shovels.

Also, kudos to Parks & Recration for putting bush cutter guards around the young trees planted over the last year and a half! Thank you!

If you have any questions, please contact me at 285-MINA (6462)

Have a great weekend,

Angelo

American Memorial Park Announces Arbor Day

Join in on the fun of planting beautiful new trees and digging up the roots of the nasty and invasive Spanish Pepper Vine!

Friday, November 9, 2007, from 7:00 to 8:00 PM American Memorial Park will be hosting a Community Interaction in the Auditorium.

Guest speakers will introduce the venomous BROWN TREE SNAKE, the nasty and invasive SPANISH PEPPER VINE and Ranger Nancy will be showing folks how easy it is to recycle. Our guests will be interacting with our community neighbors on all levels. Light refreshments will follow.

The Brown Tree Snake is a very big problem on Saipan. We will learn to recognize this super pest and just what makes it our pest. We’ll learn what we can and can not do if we find one.

Rangers from War in the Pacific are flying to Saipan to introduce us to the danger we are in due to the Spanish Pepper Vine. This invasive species was brought to Saipan during World War II as a simple ground cover along the runways at Isley Field. Today, this nasty and pervasive vine is killing every plant on our beautiful island.

Ranger Nancy will get together with folks and figure out all the great stuff that can be recycled. We’ll discover different ways to use or recycle most of what we have in our trash cans. We will even go visit our great Recycling Center in Lower Base, by way of a slide show!!

Saturday morning at 7:00 AM, join Park Rangers and Volunteers in planting beautiful new Flame Trees and Golden Showers. We’ll go to the protected wetland and dig up those awful Spanish Pepper Vines. Then we’ll have lunch!!! Our cooperating association, the Arizona Memorial Museum Association is providing a light lunch for us after all that hard work.

So come on along and have more fun that a barrel of monkeys!!

Another busy weekend

The Marianas Class of 1983 took advantage of "Austerity Friday" to plant a Flame Tree at their old stomping grounds. This Flame Tree was #101 of the Beautify CNMI Adopt-a-Flame Tree Program.

I brought along a second tree and dedicated it to the MHS Class of 2011. That was Flame Tree #102.

On Saturday morning we helped Jeff Turbitt, an English teacher at Saipan Southern High School, paint his classroom. Jeff provided the paint and we provided the man power.

Java Joes provided the volunteers with a box full of cookies. Thanks, Rick Jones!

Tomorrow we have a cleanup of Isa Drive from the Botanical Garden down to San Vicente Elementary. We'll start at about 8 AM. Hope to see you there!

Another Milestone

Today we planted our 100th Flame Tree of the 2007 rainy season!

Considering that we only planted 22 Flame Trees last year, this is a very significant number.

It took several groups and individuals collaborating to get these trees in the ground. We started way back in February. I asked Brad Doerr, a Mariana Island Nature Alliance member, to start growing Flame Trees for me. I told him that I didn't have money to pay him then, but by the time the trees were ready to plant, I would have figured something out.

We came up with an Adopt-a-Flame Tree program. For $20, anyone in the world could have a Flame Tree planted in their name. We sold trees at the Flame Tree Arts Festival, the MINA Annual Meeting, and online.

Over 100 trees were adopted.

We started planting on June 19, the one year anniversary of Beautify CNMI's first tree planting. Then each weekend we would plant a few trees. We've had help from MINA, Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Council, Rep. Cinta Kaipat's Office & Family, Isa CNMI, Friends of the Mariana Islands, and a few dozen community volunteers.

We're not finished, but a big thank you to everyone who has helped us reach this milestone!

Making Koblerville Beautiful

Today we planted 28 more Flame Trees and 10 Plumeria in and around the Koblerville Youth Center. These 38 trees are in addition to the 36 trees we planted last week. Wee also continued removing little, picking up trash thrown out of people's car windows.

Seriously, can we stop throwing things out of the window as we drive? How hard would it to be to hold on to that beer can?

The Flame Trees planted today are part of our Adopt-a-Flame Tree program. We finished planting in front of the Youth Center, then planted a row in front of Koblerville Elementary, and then planted a row along Monsignor Martinez where it intersects Koblerville Road.

Cinta took a lot of pictures; look for her post!

36 Flame Trees Planted in Koblerville

Beautify CNMI has several long term goals. We want to promote Ecotourism in the CNMI (there is currently no Ecotourism here), we want to restore and promote many of our historical landmarks (i.e. the Japanese Jail and the Lighthouse) as tourist/historical sites, we want to reduce illegal dumping and littering, and we want to create an interconnected system of parks and trails.

One of those parks is going to be located on top of the old airstrip in Koblerville, currently the site of the Koberville Youth Center and Substation.

We started work on this project last year. We took an overgrown old abandoned airstrip littered with trash and grafitti and simply started cleaning.

We mowed the grass. We got rid of the weeds. We painted over the grafitti.

We've kept this up for almost a year.

Last month, with the involvement of several government entities, we helped open up the Koblerville Youth Center. For almost a month now, we've participated in Family Fun Night, held at the Youth Center every Friday night for the residents of Koblerville.

Little by little, we are getting people to use the park and we are continuously improving it.

Yesterday morning we planted 36 Flame Trees along the street. They are small now, but in a year they will be over 10 feet tall. In three years they will be tall enough to provide shade.

About six months ago I asked one of the Mariana Island Nature Alliance members, Brad Doerr, to start growing Flame Trees. I told him that I didn't have money to pay him then, but by the time they were tall enough to plant, I would.

I came up with an Adopt-a-Flame tree program. For $20 via cash, check or paypal, anyone in the world could purchase a Flame Tree. I promised the adoptee a certificate and a picture of their tree posted on the Internet along with the GPS coordinates of their tree.

I use the money to purchase the trees, soil, flagging tape, shovels, and whatever else we need to get the trees planted. Then I recruit volunteers to help me plant the trees and invite the people who adopted the trees to tag along.

Yesterday I had help from Ken Kramer, his mom, his wife and two kids, Missy and Jim Highfill and their kid, Rep. Cinta Kaipat, Gus Kaipat and his 30-40 nephews, Marites Castillo and the Friends of the Mariana Islands, Captain Carl and his two shipmates, Neta and Flurina, Brad Doerr, and Laura Williams and her son Caleb.

All it took for us to get these 36 trees planted were 26 tree planting volunteers (including myself), a little pre-planning on my part to ensure that we would have Flame Trees to plant during the rainy season (coordinating with Brad), and 36 generous donors to spend $20 to adopt a Flame Tree. In getting the trees adopted, we also had help from everyone who helped us man our booth at the Flame Tree Arts Festival back in April and MINA, which takes care of Beautify CNMI's finances.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that planting these 36 trees was a community effort. Probably well over 100 people had a hand in coordinating the planting, from making sure that we had trees, shovels, soil, finances, water, snacks for volunteers, to getting people to adopt the trees, to actually planting the trees, and so on and so on.

Thanks to every single one of you who helped out. These 36 trees are a significant contribution to the community of Koblerville. In 5 years, we'll all be able to say that we had a hand in providing shade, beauty, and cooler temperatures to the residents of Koblerville.

One last thing, Cinta told me to get in the group picture, so I did this:

Steve and Miwa Nguyen adopt a Flame Tree!

Steve and Miwa are moving to Texas next month. They adopted a Flame Tree and planted it on Beach Road. Their tree is the seventh Flame Tree planted in 2007. Their tree can be found at:

N 15' 11.557
E 145' 43.073

Thanks for adopting a tree, Steve and Miwa! We are sure going to miss you guys!

The 2007 Tree Planting Season is on!

Community volunteers and adopt-a-tree patrons (from left to right): Brad Doerr of MINA, Angelo Villagomez, Sami Birmingham-Babauta, Beautify CNMI summer intern, Walt Goodridge, Rep. Cinta Kaipat, Aya Matsumoto of ISA CNMI, Joyie Lam, Captain Carl Brachear, John Griffin, Ken Kramer of Marianas RC&D, and Julian Aguon.

This morning Beautify CNMI partners from Marianas Resources Conservation & Development Council, Rep. Cinta Kaipat's Office, Isa CNMI, and Mariana Islands Nature Alliance helped kick off the Beautify CNMI tree plantings for 2007!

We planted 5 trees, replacing trees that have been removed because of typhoon damage, bushcutter damage, or disease over the years.

The planting occured on the one year anniversary of Beautify CNMI's first tree planting. Exactly one year ago we planted four Flame Trees on Beach Road. Some of those Flame Trees are over 10 feet tall today.

Is the tree tall or are the people short?: Angelo Villagomez, Sami Birmingham-Babauta, and Steve Nguyen. This tree was planted on June 19, 2006. It is only one year old.

That planting kicked off a series of tree plantings that resulted in the planting of over 2000 native trees.

The Flame Trees planted this morning are a part of the Beautify CNMI Adopt-a-Flame Tree program. Anyone can adopt a Flame Tree. The cost is $20 and the adoptee can plant the tree with Beautify CNMI or at their home. Adoptees will recieve a certifcate of adoption that has the GPS coordinates of their tree. Their tree will also be featured on the Beautify CNMI website.

GPS All-stars: John Griffin and Brad Doerr take the GPS coordinates of a Flame Tree.
If you would like to adopt a tree, please contact Angelo Villagomez or use the DONATE NOW button to make a donation. The cost is $20 per tree.

Julian Aguon and John Griffin adopt a tree!

Julian Aguon and John Griffin are both visiting Saipan this week. Julian is from Guam and John is from Pennsylvania. When they heard about our tree planting this week, they both decided to adopt a tree. We only had five trees at our kickoff event, so they decided to plant it together.

Later in the rainy season we will plant another tree for them.

They also decided to call their tree JJ. JJ can be found at:

N 15' 11.851
E 145' 43.109

Thanks, Julian!

Thanks, John!

Joyie Lam and Rika Matsumoto adopt a tree!

Joyie Lam came to this morning's tree planting after reading about it on one of the many Saipan blogs. She decided to adopt a tree.

Her tree can be found at:

N 15' 11.856
E 145' 48.107

Joyie, who is entering her third year at Pepperdine University, planted this tree for her and her best friend, Rika, who is currently attending college in Japan. Rika is the daughter of Aya, who has also adopted a Flame Tree.

Aya Matsumoto adopts a tree!

Aya Matsumoto of ISA CNMI adopted a flame tree and planted it on Beach Road. It can be found at:

N 15' 11.780
E 145' 43.109

Thanks, Aya!

By the way, we made Aya dig her own hole:

Captain Carl Brachear adopts a tree!

Captain Carl planted his tree on Beach Road. It is located at:

N 15' 11.776
E 145' 43.100

Thanks, Carl!

Ken Kramer adopts a tree!

Ken Kramer was the first person to plant an adopt-a-Flame Tree! His tree is located at:

N 15' 11.747
E 145' 43.105

Thanks, Ken!

Tree Planting: One Year Later

On June 19, 2006, Beautify CNMI and our partners planted four Flame Trees on Beach Road. Over the course of the next several months, we planted over 2000 trees.

Tomorrow is the on year anniversary of that day, so we are going to plant four more Flame Trees on Beach Road. The ceremony will take place at 10 AM near the 13 Fishermen Memorial.

Hope to see you there!

First Tree Planting!

Yesterday morning I helped coordinate the first tree planting of the 2007 Rainy Season. Using coconuts gathered from my late father's house in Fina Sisu and volunteers from the District Boy Scout Camp going on this week, we planted 115 trees.

One of the most rewarding things about my life on Saipan is working with kids who want to learn. The boy scouts were totally attentive as I spoke to them about the importance of planting trees, ecology, and such.

It was a great event. I even got to participate in the flag raising ceremony: