Guam's threatened species facing further threats from missile project

Cycas micronesia. Photo courtesy of UOG

By Jayvee Vallejera

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's plan to build a 360-degree missile defense system on Guam will take its toll on the island's shrinking limestone forests, which in turn will further pose danger to endemic plant and animal species listed as "threatened."

The record of decision issued on Sept. 9 noted that the project will have significant impacts on the federally protected Mariana fruit bat and the threatened plant Cycas micronesia.

Of the proposed sites where the missile defense system will be built, eight will be at U.S. Naval Base Guam, six will be at Andersen Air Force Base and two at Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz.

One of the most significant areas of environmental concern is the predicted loss of limestone forests, the habitat for native wildlife and Endangered Species Act-listed species.

Native healers also harvest their medicinal plants from the forests.

The deployment of the integrated air and missile defense system will necessitate bulldozing and leveling approximately 269 acres of limestone forests across nine sites in Guam, according to the plan’s environmental impact statement.

The MDA record of decision recognizes that putting in place mitigation measures could ease the effects on these resources, but impacts from the loss of limestone forests “would remain major, long-term and significant.”

For one, about 5,459 individuals of the federal ESA-listed threatened plant Cycas micronesica will be removed from five sites.

The population of this endemic plant has already severely declined across Guam, and having to remove about 5,459 individual pieces of these plants across five sites is expected to have “major, long-term and significant” impacts.

Guam’s limestone forests are also home to the threatened Mariana fruit bats live. Locally called fanihi, these bats are mainly found in Guam and Rota. The MDA’s project will result in the loss of about 235 acres of their foraging and roosting habitat.

Project planners believe mitigation measures, such as creating habitat enhancement sites in other parts of Guam, can minimize the impact.

In addition to the loss of habitat, nighttime construction could also potentially harass the nocturnal Mariana fruit bats, says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The wildlife agency also said that the munitions storage area project at Anderson Air Force Base will result in the incidental capture, collection and even killing of the endemic Mariana eight-spot butterfly, which is a candidate for ESA listing.

Also at risk, according to the USFWS’s biological opinion, are the Mariana common moorhen, the Mariana swiftlet,the Guam tree snail, the humped tree snail, the fragile tree snail, the Guam kingfisher, the Guam rail, the Mariana crow and eight plant species.

The USFWS noted that the Guam kingfisher, the Mariana crow and the Guam rail are considered “extirpated,” which means they no longer exist in Guam but are still found elsewhere.

 “The MDA and U.S. Army will take all practicable means to avoid or minimize environmental harm while still fulfilling the need for the 360-degree defense of Guam,” the record of decision states. 

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