The United States Fish and Wildlife Service in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas is allocating about 4000 acres of mostly government-owned land for the endangered Rota bird on the island of Rota.
In 2004 the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior for not proposing a critical habitat for the Rota bridled white-eye.
In 1982, there were approximately 10,000 Rota bridled white-eyes, but now only about 1,000 birds are left.
They can only be found in forests above 150 meters elevation on Rota.