PSU Magazine Winter 1992

Peace Corp in Ethiopia, served as dir ctor of Fi h and Wildlife fo r the Virgin Islands, and has helped manage endangered spec ies prese rves in Hawaii and the westem Un ited S tates for The Nature Conservancy. A a wi ld life biologist, Dewey speaks exc itedly about Palau's natu ra l splen– dor. "It has a cenic beauty and variety that's unmatched by other tropical islands," he say . "It ha the greatest diver ity of coral reef fish in the world. " But Dewey has found any study of Palau is not comp! te without an under– standing of the islands' troubled and violent history. It has the unfo rtunate luck to be in a strategic place in the Pacific, and since the 1700s the British, Spanish, German , Japanese, and Americans have all sought dominion over the remote republic. The latest epi ode played out in 1944, when more than 2,000 American and ll ,000 Japane e died there in one of the bloodiest and least– known of the Pacific island battle . lwo Jima, Saipan, and even T arawa were household words during World War II , while the battle on Palau' Peleliu I land got lost on the back pages. Not all of the battles of Palau have been fought with bullets. Po litical, economic, and environmental cla hes have left Palau pockmarked , say Dewey. But surprisingly, the i land remain relatively unscathed today. Palau is, in fact, a living laboratory ~ r those who wi h to study the truggle among people, as we ll as between people and nature. Naturalists know of Palau, if few oth rs do. Its treasures include huge ea turtle , rare crocodiles, and giant clams mea uring up to four feet wide. To date, 00 pec ies of coral reef fish have b en ide ntified , and 700 more are ex– pected to be discovered. Of 50 resident bird pecies, eight are found nowhere else in the world. Three different nutrient-carrying current merge near Palau, providing the richest marine life in Micrones ia. It' no urpri e that the World Diving Association ranks Palau as the top diving site in the world . Japanese and Au tralian d ivers flock to the i land , yet Palau remains relatively unknown to most Americans. '' We talked with people who helped write the Palauan constitution. It was like going back and talking with Jefferson or Madison. '' In fact, aside from tw hotels on Koror Island , Palau is undevel ped fo r tourism. And although there's growing pressure to deve lop a tourism industry which would help bring economi c stability to the islands, Palau' rule governing land ownership make such development difficult. In Palau's matrilinear soc iety, women own and di vide land which family clans inherit. "To this day you can't buy property there," says Dewey. "Very little can happen under the present structure. The concept of individually owned properties with boundaries does not ex i t ." But Dewey and others expect that pressure to develop the islands will only increa e. Already there are dozens of law uit among Palauans over what Dewey says have been attempt by some Palauans to ell land they don 't own to fo reign intere ts. Tourism could be Palau's alvation– or quick demise. Dewey points to the d isastrou effects that beach develop– ment ha caused on cora l reefs around G uam, Hawaii, and the Virgin Island . If deve lopment on Pa lau occurs, it must have strict safeguards to prevent silt from running off into the surrounding waters. "A small amount of sil t runoff would destroy the reefs," Dewey says. A bigger, m re immedi ate threat is an oil spi ll from tankers whi ch regular– ly visit Palau to fu el a large power plant. No safeguards are in place to stop a large spill. Says Dewey, "The cur– rents are such that if the tide wa right, a spill could de troy the entire reef." Dewey likes to compare Palau to the Virgin Islands before they were developed in the 1950 and 1960 . Palau attracts 20,000 touri t a yea r, the same number as the Virgi n Islands once lured. Today, 1.5 million people visit the V irgin l land annually. Dewey thinks Palau could develop touri m succe sfully and pre erve its natu ral wonder . He notes that the ecologically frag ile Galapagos Island ha managed to protect its environ– ment and remain accessible to tourists. pecially trained guides are required fo r vi it to en iti ve ires. Dewey's field classes allow par– ticipants to see Palau's beauty up clo e through boat trips, snorkeling expedi– tions, and visits to historic sites, the trips go fa r beyond sightseeing. An integral part of the classes involve face– to-face discussions with Palau's g vem– ment and non-government official . Participants come away with a multi - ided apprec iation for the area' com– plex problems. "It wa incred ibly exciting to meet peop le who made deci ion ," recalls tuart Grover, who visited Palau last June on one of Dewey's fi eld trip . "We Dressed in traditional costume, this young Palauan girl will be perform· ing a native dance. PSU 7