Secretary Salazar Presents the Three Mountain Alliance Watershed Partnership with Partners in Conservation Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today presented a Partners in Conservation Award to the Three Mountain Alliance Watershed Partnership for their work in Hawaii.

It was one of 26 national awards to individuals and organizations presented at a ceremony at Interior headquarters in Washington, D.C. to honor “those who achieve natural resource goals in collaboration and partnership with others.”

The 26 Partners in Conservation Awards recognize conservation achievements resulting from the cooperation and participation of a total of 600 individuals and organizations including landowners; citizens' groups; private sector and nongovernmental organizations; and federal, state, local, and/or tribal governments.

“The Partners in Conservation Awards demonstrate that our greatest conservation legacies often emerge when stakeholders, agencies, and citizens from a wide range of backgrounds come together to address shared challenges,” the Secretary said. “The Three Mountain Alliance has reduced the abundance of the most threatening invasive plants and animal species over large sections of the partnership area to assist with the recovery of native Hawaiian forest and rare and endangered birds and plants. ”

The three mountains of Kilauea, Mauna Loa and Hualalai are culturally significant to Hawaiians and critically important to the life, health and well being of the native ecosystems and human communities that inhabit them. This partnership has become the largest cooperative land management effort in the state of Hawaii.

“These 26 awards recognize the dedicated efforts of 600 people from all walks of life, from across our nation– and from across our borders with Canada and Mexico,” Salazar noted. “They celebrate partnerships that conserve and restore our nation's treasured landscapes and watersheds, partnerships that engage Native American communities, and partnerships that engage youth.”

List the individuals and groups
Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife

Roger Imoto
Hawaiian Silversword Foundation

Robert Robichaux
Kamehameha Schools, Land Assets Division

Kamakani Dancil

Namaka Whitehead
Kulani Correctional Facility

Beryl Iramina
National Park Service

Rhonda Loh

Cindy Orlando
Natural Resources Conservation Service

Larry Yamamoto
The Nature Conservancy

Laura Nelson
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Craig Rowland
U.S. Forest Service

Anne Marie LaRosa
U.S. Geological Survey

Jim Jacobi
University of Hawaii, Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit

Cliff Morden
Other

Tanya Rubenstein, Three Mountain Alliance