U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall today announced the sixteen recipients of the 2006 National Recovery Champion Award, one of whom is Judy Jacobs of the Service's Ecological Services program in Anchorage. The Recovery Champion Award recognizes outstanding contributions of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees and their partners toward efforts aimed at recovering threatened and endangered species in the United States.
"The Recovery Champion Award not only recognizes the exceptional conservation accomplishments of the honorees, it also provides the public with a unique opportunity to learn about endangered species conservation," said Hall. "These Recovery Champions are extraordinary conservationists dedicated to protecting and restoring our nation's wildlife and ensuring that future generations of Americans enjoy the natural treasures we experience today.?
The 2006 Recovery Champions are contributing to the conservation of a broad range of endangered and threatened plants and animals. Habitat protection, public awareness campaigns, and the development of cutting-edge technologies to achieve captive breeding success are just a few examples of this year's Recovery Champion honorees? accomplishments.
Alaska's award winner Judy Jacobs was nominated for her work with albatross, including her efforts as the primary author of the Draft Short-tailed Albatross Recovery Plan. Perhaps the most important recovery action identified in that document is the establishment of new short-tailed albatross colonies within its formerly-occupied range in Japan. Working toward that goal, Judy coordinated an experimental translocation effort for a surrogate species ? Laysan albatross ? between Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on Kauai. The knowledge gained from this process will accelerate the establishment of new colonies of the endangered short-tailed albatross by many years. Judy's efforts have inspired the agency's Japanese partners, who are now planning to perform the first translocations of short-tailed albatross in 2008.
In the words of the Service's Alaska Regional Director Tom Melius, "Judy has been a tireless champion of the short-tailed albatross. Her work in drafting the recovery plan, and then speeding the implementation of its proposals, takes a giant step toward insuring that these magnificent birds will spread their wide wings over the waves of the Pacific for generations to come.?
Additional information about the short-tailed albatross is available online at: http://alaska.fws.gov/fisheries/endangered/pdf/STALfactsheet.pdf and at: http://www.fws.gov.
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