DLNR asks for staff and equipment to support Rota agriculture, disking service, dog control and enforcement

Rota — Jim Michael Atalek, a conservation officer with the Department of Land and Natural Resources, told the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee that DLNR needs more personnel and reliable equipment in Rota to support agriculture, disking services, dog control and enforcement of hunting and fish‑and‑wildlife rules.

Atalek said the department operates a disking service that relies on one working tractor and another unit that has required more than $3,000 in repair attempts; the department lacks local technicians and has been unable to complete a diagnostic without a factory computer. “We’re missing the tractor. We are asking for some FTEs. We currently have 1, disking service operator that's going out servicing, all these, farmers. But, we cannot rely on 1,” Atalek said.

Why it matters: DLNR officials described disking and agricultural support as a current source of income and food security for Rota. The department also asked for a local, funded dog‑control program and additional conservation officers to increase permitting compliance and reduce illegal hunting and poaching.

Key details

- Disking service and tractor repairs: Atalek said the department has spent more than $3,000 trying to repair a second tractor and that some diagnostic work may require a John Deere technician or dealer connection and associated fees estimated by staff at several thousand dollars.

- Staffing requests: DLNR requested new full‑time positions for disking services and dog control. For dog control the department asked for four positions in the narrative mentioned to the committee: one manager, one administrative officer and two dog‑control officers. Fish and wildlife requested additional conservation officer positions (one Conservation Officer I and one Conservation Officer II) to increase enforcement capacity.

- Grants and collaboration: Atalek said the department is working with the mayor’s office and with other stakeholders on grants and programming; he also mentioned the department’s involvement on invasive‑species responses and said some CRB/invasive‑species funding has been routed directly to Saipan in prior grant arrangements.

- Parks and recs vacancy: Committee discussion noted a recent resignation in parks and recreation; the committee said that vacancy is budgeted for next year and may be used for an in‑house promotion or to reassign funding to critical enforcement posts.

Committee direction and next steps

- The committee asked DLNR to supply position titles, OPM/ civil‑service classifications and salary levels for the requested FTEs so legislators can assess fiscal impact and deliberate during budget markup.

- Senators discussed coordinating local private mechanics and dealers to provide diagnostic support and exploring public–private partnerships to reduce out‑of‑island repair costs.

Quotes

“We always have to have extra, another manpower to, go out and and and, assist because it's hard to have only 1,” Conservation Officer Jim Michael Atalek said of the disking service staff.

“Right now, anybody anybody can just go out and and start shooting deer or whatever, you know, they wanna do out there because the fact that in the absence of the officer, they're not gonna come in and get license,” Atalek said, urging enforcement to support a licensing bill mentioned in committee discussion.

Ending

The committee asked DLNR to provide formal position descriptions and salary information and said it will consider carrying a vacated parks position into next year’s budget or reclassifying existing funds to fund enforcement staff; committee members also encouraged the department to pursue technical support arrangements with local mechanics and equipment dealers.