Secretary Salazar Presents Giacomini Wetlands Restoration Partners with Partners in Conservation Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today presented a Partners in Conservation Award to the Giacomini Wetlands Restoration partners for their work in the Tomales Bay and along the central California coast.

The award noted that the Giacomini Wetlands Restoration collaboration has restored as much as 12 percent of the outer coastal wetlands along the central California coast and more than 50 percent of the vegetated intertidal wetlands to Tomales Bay. Tomales Bay is bounded largely on the west by Point Reyes National Seashore administered by Interior's National Park Service.

Partners include the National Park Service, Point Reyes National Seashore Association, Tomales Bay Watershed Council and several engineering firms (see list at end).

The Giacomini award 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. “Restoration of these wetlands is vital to the conservation of diverse groups of fish and wildlife and improving water quality.” (More info can be found at http://www.nps.gov/pore/parkmgmt/planning_giacomini_wrp.htm.)

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.

“These 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.”

Those sharing the Giacomini Wetlands Restoration Project award include:

Hanford Applied Restoration and Conservation
Mark Cederborg
Doug Hanford
Kamman Hydrology and Engineering, Inc.
Greg Kamman
Rachel Kamman
National Park Service
John Dell'Osso
Brannon Ketcham
Don Neubacher
Lorraine Parsons
Ed Walls
Point Reyes National Seashore Association
Sally Bolger
Kim Hilsmann
Gary Knoblock
Andrew Lowry
Dennis Rodoni
Tomales Bay Watershed Council
Neysa King
Carlos Porrata
Winzler & Kelly Consulting Engineers
Deniz Lowe
Tony Williams