FEATURE/Canon Presents National Park Partnership Award for Environmental Conservation Leadership

Business Wire, Sept 18, 2000

Education & Environmental Reporters

FEATURE...

--Sixth Annual Award Goes to Unique Hawaiian Partnership --

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--Sept. 18, 2000

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leading supporter of the National Park Foundation, today will present the National Park Partnership Award in the Environmental Conservation category to the Olaa-Kilauea Partnership, a collaboration between seven state and federal agencies including the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Hawaii Department of Public Safety, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Kamehameha Schools, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey - Biological Resources Division and the U.S. Forest Service.

The award is being given to these organizations for protecting and restoring more than 13,000 acres of habitat native to several species of endangered forest birds and 22 species of rare plants. The award presentation will take place during the final day of the National Park Service's Discovery 2000 Conference being held here this week.

Created by the National Park Foundation and the National Park Service, the National Park Partnership Awards recognize outstanding partnerships that further the mission of the National Park Service. Awards are given in the categories of education, historic preservation, recreation, and environmental conservation. A fifth category, The Director's Award, is presented at the discretion of the Director of the National Park Service to the partnership that has most advanced the mission of the National Park Service over the past year. The Environmental Conservation award will be presented to representatives from each of the Partnership members by Bill Cronin, vice president and general manager of general affairs and regional operations at Canon U.S.A.

"Canon is proud to recognize, through this prestigious award, this cooperative land management effort that will ultimately protect 32,000 acres of land and preserve some of Hawaii's most endangered species," Cronin said. "We have been a partner of the National Park Foundation since 1995, and this latest sponsorship is a natural extension of our work with national parks," Cronin added. "We are proud to continue this long-standing tradition with an award given to groups that focus on conservation for areas at risk."

The Environmental Conservation Category is reserved for projects that benefit the management and conservation of natural resources, including improving the habitat of rare, threatened and endangered species; restoring disturbed lands; enhancing and beautifying park landscape or establishing recycling programs.

The goals of the Olaa-Kilauea partnership include protecting and managing a large contiguous area of land across ownership boundaries, controlling feral animals and invasive plants, and creating an environment that will encourage the recovery of rare and endangered species and promote their long-term survival.

With the help of inmates from the Kulani Correctional Facility, the Partnership has erected fencing to control the spread of feral pigs, the greatest threat to native ecosystems in the area. With a pig-free area in which to work, the Partnership is focusing on restoring rare plants and native birds, including the Hawaiian hawk, Hawaiian goose and Hawaiian hoary bat. As they became involved in the project, many of the partners, including the Kulani inmates, heightened their environmental awareness and appreciation, which is one of the project's indirect but most important benefits.

Canon U.S.A. is one of the largest corporate supporters of the environment. Under the umbrella of its Clean Earth Campaign, Canon funds critical conservation projects through the National Park Foundation's Expedition into the Parks initiative as well as the Canon National Park Science Scholars program, providing the nation's largest environment-related scholarships to Ph.D. candidates for research in U.S. National Parks. With more than $5 million in donations to the National Park Foundation since 1995, Canon has made a lasting impact on the parks and their natural resources. Canon also makes possible The Nature Conservancy's Wings of the Americas program, underwrites the PBS series NATURE, and sponsors Canon's Clean Earth Crew, employee volunteers who conduct beach clean-ups and other conservation activities in local parks and wildlife preserves.

Canon U.S.A., Inc. is an industry leader in professional and consumer imaging solutions and, through its parent company, Canon Inc., is a top patent-holder of imaging technologies. The company's comprehensive product line includes networked multifunction devices; digital and analog copiers (color and black and white); printers, scanners, optical filing systems, and facsimile machines; camcorders, cameras and lenses; and semiconductor, broadcast and medical equipment. Canon employs 12,000 people at more than 30 facilities throughout North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

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