Partners in Conservation Award

Partners in Conservation Award from the Department of the Interior

Members of the southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Partnership receive a "Partners in Conservation"award from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

In May 2009 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar presented a Partners in Conservation Award to the Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Partnership for its work promoting sustainability of wild salmon populations.

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 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 Alaska Salmon partnership’s record of accomplishment in preserving fish and wildlife habitat is nothing short of extraordinary," he noted.

"Since 2001, more than 70 diverse partners from tribal, state, federal and private entities have come together to conserve and protect 94,000acres of habitat including rivers that are prime spawning grounds for salmon and other fish."

The partnership’s most recent success was a permanent conservation agreement protecting 21,000 acres of the Agulowak River and surrounding watershed inside Wood-Tikchik State Park. The river provides spawning habitat for 200,000 sockeye salmon and passage for another 1.2 million sockeye and other fish to spawning grounds further up in other drainages of the river.

A detailed description of the award and the many partners whose participation made it possible is available through this link to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service press release, excerpts of which appear above.