Secretary Salazar Presents Milford Flat Fire Restoration Project in Utah with Partners in Conservation Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today presented a Partners in Conservation Award to the Milford Flat Fire Restoration Project for their work to improve watersheds following the largest fire in Utah history two years ago.

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 Bureau of Land Management recently took on the largest rehabilitation and restoration project in its history after a wildfire burned more than 363,000 acres on BLM, state, private and Bureau of Indian Affairs lands. The project was extremely successful because of the support and contributions of all the partners involved.”

After conducting post-fire assessments of the burned areas, land managing agencies saw the need to conduct stabilization, rehabilitation and restoration effort on 202,000 acres, which equals more than 300 square miles. From October 2007 to spring 2008, the partners treated burned areas with more than 1.8 million pounds of seeds, surveyed and treated noxious weed infestations, replaced 74 miles of burned fencing, constructed 78 new miles of fence and developed 315 sediment basins

“These 26 awards recognize the dedicated efforts of 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.”

This award was shared by:

Bureau of Indian Affairs
Paul Schlafly
Bureau of Land Management
Harry Barber
Lola Bird
Paul Briggs
Jack Brown
Marilyn Chapman
Harvey Gates
Verlin Smith
Curtis Warrick
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Ron Davidson
Utah Department of Agriculture
William J. Hopkin
Tom Tippets
Utah Department of Natural Resources
Rory Reynolds
Utah Department of Transportation
Jim McConnell
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Tyler Thompson
Jason Vernon
Utah Governor's Office
Brian Cottam
Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration
Kim Christy
Ronald G. Torgerson
Sheril Torgersen
Utah State Historic Preservation Office
Matt Seddon