Pagan island is a biologically diverse, 10-mile-long island anchored by two volcanoes in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an independent government associated with the United States.
The island, nearly three-quarters of the way to the Philippines from Hawaii, is home to wildlife that includes an endangered fruit bat, endemic birds, huge spiders, lizards, and a rare tree snail. The island has been mostly uninhabited since 1981, when its population was evacuated because of volcanic eruptions.
It is one of the most habitable islands in the Mariana chain, says Michael Hadfield, a biologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who spent time on the island documenting the wildlife on behalf of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Hadfield, a self-described conservational biologist who also administers the website SavePaganIsland.org, wrote in an op-ed that Pagan Island is a “biological treasure house."
It may also be the next U.S. bombing target.
We the undersigned ask that you cancel your plans for military exercises on Pagan Island.
Pagan Island, the “Crown Jewel” of the Marianas, is one of the most biologically and geologically diverse islands in the archipelago, and is home to many threatened and endangered species, some of which are found nowhere else in the world. Aside from its stunning beauty and rich ecological resources, Pagan is also one of the most habitable of the northern most islands in the CNMI. In fact, this island has supported the ancestors of Pagan islanders for over 3,000 years, as evidenced by Chamorro stone ruins found skirting its beautiful beaches.
Live-fire exercises and bombing will have a devastating impact on this unique island's ecology and wildlife. Please leave Pagan island alone, and find a better site for military exercises. Surely there are plenty of near-lifeless islands where practicing maneuvers will have far less of an impact on the environment.
