My Environmental Bio class visited the MASSO Watershed in PITI. A watershed is an area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas which come in all shapes and sizes.
Southern Guam has about 14 watersheds, but what I found interesting is the one in the village of PITI is man-made. Back in the 40's the US Navy dredged the area so that it could have a clean water source but was shut down because fine sand found its way into the water system. In the early 50's it was taken over by GovGuam and is now being restored to a nature park. There are phases in the works to make it have the full amenities of a tourist attraction.
As this is the rainy season, the water is murky but when it settles you could see some of the water species like tilapia, mosquito fish, fresh-water eels, and shrimp. The water gets up to 15-20 feet deep but swimming is not allowed, in fact, the caretaker caught leptospirosis which is a bacterial infection that causes organ dysfunction, about six times.
There are patches of grass you could set up for a lovely picnic and do some quiet reading or take a small hike up the hill. There are mosquitoes so you might want to spray on bug repellant.
In the dry season, the hillside is prone to forest fires which cause erosion and maladies for the flora there as well. Volunteers have planted many Acacia trees which are fire resistant and also helps reduce soil erosion. Plans are to infuse the area with many native and endemic vegetation.
We saw animal tracks so you may be lucky to see deer (BINADU), wild pig (BABUI), and the endangered Marianas Moorhen called PULATTAT in Chamorro language.
Visit this site to learn more of this natural Guam beauty...
http://ivyllexanimo.blogspot.com/2014/04/blog-post.html
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