Buenas yan hafa adai, Si Yu'os Ma'åse and thank you for all your support! We received over 500 signatures in the last 24 hours. Let's keep the momentum going! We need your help today to contact all the senators of the Guam Legislature urging them to co-sponsor a resolution as soon as possible, urging the prevention of the firing range at Northwest Field near Litkeyan. Please visit our Facebook page to download the contact list for the senators: https://www.facebook.com/saveritidian/. Please use the following script: Buenas, my name is ________________. I am calling Senator _____________ to urge him/her to co- sponsor a resolution that urges Governor Calvo to do the following: a) to demand an immediate site visit by our elected officials of the footprint and the Surface Danger Zone (SDZ) of the planned Live Fire Training Range Complex on Northwest Field; b) implement a Temporary Restraining Order on any construction or action that increases the Department of Defense footprint on Guam c) take all necessary steps to halt the construction of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Live Fire Training Range Complex (LFTRC) at the Northwest Field near Litekyan in order to save our endangered species from extinction, our water from contamination, and our ancestral burials from desecration of live fire of 6.7 million bullets fired annually at this crucial time when the green light has been given by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the destruction of a thousand acres of pristine limestone forest that is the habitat for Guahan’s endangered species, including the last mother hayun lågu tree of Guahan. d) to direct the State Historic Preservation Officer to amend the 2011 Programmatic Agreement to remove Litekyan, which is listed in the Guam Register of Historic Places, off the listed area of potential impact for militarization efforts on Guam. e) to adopt of a policy that preserves our cultural and historic sites instead of mitigation f) to urge the Governor to take immediate action and to meet with Prutehi Litkeyan to develop a concrete plan as soon as possible, before the destruction takes place. Si Yu’os Ma’ase! Please email save.ritidian@gmail.com if you have any questions or would like a copy of the 2017 Biological Opinion. Si Yu'os Ma'ase! Please see the message below from our Vice Speaker Therese Terlaje to her colleagues at the 34th Guam Legislature: Dear Colleagues, In light of today's PDN headline, I write to forward to you the automatic update I received today relative to the ongoing status of an online petition to Save Ritidian, which has 2,009 signatures at 5:43 pm on August 8, 2017. It is addressed to five people, including Governor Calvo, Congresswoman Bordallo, Speaker Cruz and me, but will require a government-wide concerted effort and especially your assistance. I have copied and pasted the petition language below for your convenience, but please follow the links to view the online comments and activity. If you have any questions regarding this petition or the Prutehi Litekyan group's efforts, please contact Sabina Perez at famoksaiyan.sabina@gmail.com. I have also included her address in the cc for your convenience. Also attached to this email is the Biological Opinion issued in July by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which the DoN has been awaiting in order to proceed with the clearing of 187 acres of limestone forest habitat at Northwest Field on the cliff above Ritidian. The Biological Opinion discusses the clearing of a total of 1,219 acres of limestone forest habitat, including the clearing of 187 acres of limestone fores habitat at Northwest Field, the clearing of 212 acres of limestone forest habitat for the hand grenade range, urban terrain training area and other activities at Andy South, the clearing of 12 acres of limestone forest habitat for well fields and water system at AAFB, and the further clearing of 683 acres of limestone forest for cantonment at Finegayan. The Biological Opinion also discusses the significant adverse effects on endangered or threatened species from the proposed destruction of habitat, especially the limestone forest habitat. It states that of the 23 endangered or threatened species located in Micronesia, 13 were found to occur adjacent to or within the proposed project areas. There is an overwhelming amount of information to be understood, but I include the following quote from the Biological Opinion, discussing the Live Fire Training Range at Ritidian Point and the effects on the Guam National Wildlife Refuge, for your consideration: "The largest effects on listed species habitat in terms of habitat fragmentation will be on AAFB near Ritidian Point from construction of the LFTRC. This area currently contains a largeexpanse (over 350 ac {142 ha}) of high-quality primary limestone forest that serves as occupied habitat for the Mariana fruit bat, Mariana eight spot butterfly, B. guamense, D. guamense, Tuberolabium guamense, C. micronesica, H. longipetiolata, and T. rotensis, and unoccupied habitat for the Guam tree snail, fragile tree snail, and humped tree snail (DON 2017a, p. 44). This primary limestone forest is also contiguous with GNWR, providing an even larger forestedarea serving as habitat for the above eleven listed species. In total, approximately 78 ac (32 ha)of primary limestone forest and 109 ac (44 ha) of secondary limestone forest would bepermanently cleared for construction of the LFTRC. In addition to LFTRC clearing activities, the proposed action will create a Surface Danger Zone(SDZ) over approximately 68 percent of the GNWR at Ritidian Point during operation of the LFTRC. The SDZ will cover the GNWR access road, visitor center, offices, and other facilities and thereby limit access to the GNWR while firing occurs at the LFTRC. Any entry into GNWRwill require scheduling with and approval by LFTRC Range Control personnel. The limited access that GNWR staff will have to the refuge property during the estimated 39 weeks per year the LFTRC is active will limit the amount of habitat management that can occur at the GNWR. This could have an adverse effect on listed species by: 1) limiting maintenance of the predator exclusion fence at the GNWR, 2) limiting maintenance of native out-plantings, 3) limiting invasive plant control, and 4) limiting effective ungulate control. Per Section 2822 (Establishment of surface danger zone, Ritidian Unit, GNWR) in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act,the Service and the DON may enter into an agreement to establish and operate a SDZ over theGNWR. The agreement may include relocation and reconstruction of GNWR facilities, mitigation for impacts to wildlife species, and use of DoD personnel to complete GNWR conservation actions; however, this agreement is not yet in place. Therefore, in this analysis we assume that the operation of the LFTRC will have an adverse effect on listed species by preventing themanagement, research, and monitoring that would have otherwise occurred at GNWR." Si Yu'os Ma'åse', Therese Terlaje