I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 674 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasi-
bility of designating prehistoric, historic, and limestone forest sites on 
Rota, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as a unit of 
the National Park System. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 13, 2013 
Mr. SABLAN (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. BORDALLO, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suit-
ability and feasibility of designating prehistoric, historic, 
and limestone forest sites on Rota, Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands, as a unit of the National 
Park System. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Rota Cultural and Natural Resources Study Act’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds as follows: 
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(1) The island of Rota was the only major is-
land in the Mariana Islands to be spared the de-
struction and large scale land use changes brought 
about by World War II. 
(2) The island of Rota has been described by 
professional archeologists as having the most numer-
ous, most intact, and generally the most unique pre-
historic sites of any of the islands of the Mariana 
Archipelago. 
(3) The island of Rota contains remaining ex-
amples of what is known as the Latte Phase of the 
cultural tradition of the indigenous Chamorro people 
of the Mariana Islands. Latte stone houses are rem-
nants of the ancient Chamorro culture. 
(4) Four prehistoric sites are listed on the Na-
tional Register of Historic Places: Monchon Archeo-
logical District (also known locally as Monchon 
Latte Stone Village), Taga Latte Stone Quarry, the 
Dugi Archeological Site that contains latte stone 
structures, and the Chugai Pictograph Cave that 
contains examples of ancient Chamorro rock art. 
Alaguan Bay Ancient Village is another latte stone 
prehistoric site that is surrounded by tall-canopy 
limestone forest. 
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(5) In addition to prehistoric sites, the island of 
Rota boasts historic sites remaining from the Japa-
nese period (1914–1945). Several of these sites are 
on the National Register of Historic Places: Nanyo 
Kohatsu Kabushiki Kaisha Sugar Mill, Japanese 
Coastal Defense Gun, and the Japanese Hospital. 
(6) The island of Rota’s natural resources are 
significant because of the extent and intact condition 
of its native limestone forest that provides habitat 
for several federally endangered listed species, the 
Mariana crow, and the Rota bridled white-eye birds, 
that are also native to the island of Rota. Three en-
dangered plant species are also found on Rota and 
two are endemic to the island. 
(7) Because of the significant cultural and nat-
ural resources listed above, on September 2005, the 
National Park Service, Pacific West Region, com-
pleted a preliminary resource assessment on the is-
land of Rota, Commonwealth of the Northern Mar-
iana Islands, which determined that the ‘‘establish-
ment of a unit of the national park system 
appear[ed] to be the best way to ensure the long 
term protection of Rota’s most important cultural 
resources and its best examples of its native lime-
stone forest.’’. 
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