Forestry
Advisory Council asks Fono to allocate funding for purchase of
Tafuna rainforest
by Fili Sagapolutele
Samoa News Correspondent
The Forestry
Advisory Council, a committee that provides public and interagency
input on the Land Grant Forestry program, has asked Senate President
Lolo M. Moliga to introduce a bill allocating local matching
funds to help purchase the lowland rainforest land in Ottoville
from the Haleck family.
In an April 24
letter to Lolo, council chairman Imo Tiapula said the ASCC Land
Grant Forestry Department has received $994,000 from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Forest Legacy program to purchase the
lowland rainforest.
However, he said
the forest legacy funds can only be used with a 25% match from
local government and private contributions, American Samoa must
contribute $248,500.
He said a bill
to appropriate the necessary funds urgently needs to be submitted
to the Fono as soon as possible since the Forest Legacy funds
are competitive funds that can be withdrawn if they are not used
in a timely manner.
He some of the
funds were received in 2006 so it has been several years already
that American Samoa has had the opportunity to purchase a few
acres of the rainforest.
During a court
hearing early this week on the dispute over the rainforest land,
Avamua Dave Haleck told Chief Justice Michael Kruse that his
family has been negotiating with the government for 10 years
to buy or lease the land but up to now the only organization
that has made any attempt to secure funding for this purpose
is the Forest Legacy program.
Kruse had issued
on April 22 an interim order, granting a temporary restraining
order and enjoining Avamua from "any clearing of virgin
bush or associated land development activity on any land within
the existing Tafuna lowland rainforest area."
The order is
in place until the High Court makes a final decision on whether
the Haleck family should be required to obtain a land use permit
to clear their property.
Tiapula told
Lolo that the Haleck family has offered to make a donation but
a formal agreement to purchase the land has never been reached.
He said there
are about 19 acres in the rainforest and the number of acres
that are set aside for conservation depends on the selling price
and the amount of money that is collected to purchase the land.
He said a federal appraisal must be conducted before a selling
price can be agreed upon.
"Preserving
the land will be of great benefit to the people of American Samoa
and it is essential that the American Samoa government appropriate
funds to help purchase this land," said Tiapula. "There
is strong demand for the land and the Haleck family cannot continue
to wait indefinitely for the government to act on protecting
the forest."
Copies of the
letter were distributed to senators.
Yesterday, Sen.
Pulefaasisina Tuiasosopo called on the Senate to review this
matter and act accordingly. He said this rainforest needs to
be protected from commercial development and its prudent for
the Fono to look into this matter.
Lolo agreed and
said his office will look into Tiapula's letter.
Reach the
reporter at fili@samoanews.com.
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