Land Rehabilitation in the Northern Mariana Islands of the Pacific

Mature vetiver on previously badly eroded slope

This lead photo is of the rehab work of the very heavily eroded Talakhaya Watershed located on Rota Island, Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific. Vetiver is the main plant used to rehab and reduce sediment flows to nearby coastal area. The vetiver work was initiated by Dr. Mohammad Golabi of the University of Guam and involved community participation.  This work is a very good example how the judicious use of vetiver can be used to rehab badly eroded public lands on tropical islands thus reducing sediment flows to adjacent coastal waters.



You can learn more about this work at:

 https://www.vetiver.org/…/SOIL&WATER%20CONSERVATION/2%20M%2… and
https://dcrm.gov.mp/…/water-quality-and-watershe…/talakhaya/

Other images show how effective vetiver has been in rehabilitating the treated areas where no other plants could establish. The three satellite images show pin selected spots in 2013, 2015, and 2019 and give an idea of the scale of erosion and the recovery as a result of vetiver planting. The 2019 imagery shows both recovery and some relatively new hedge

Typical eroded area of the watershed before treatment

Close up of newly planted vetiver (Dr. Gulabi)

Vetiver in second year of planting

2013: Right hand green pins show untreated eroded area. Upper left vetiver treatment visible

2015 - treated and untreated areas

2019 - treated areas filling in, Vetiver hedgerows clearly seen as rows across slope. Preventing further scouring