Local Companies Donate More Than $250,000 to The Nature Conservancy of Hawai`i

More than 100 local businesses support environmental conservation in Hawai'i

HONOLULU, HAWAI`I — July 19, 2007 — This year, more than 100 local businesses supported environmental conservation in Hawai‘i by donating more than $250,000 to The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii’s Corporate Council for the Environment. The Conservancy launched the Corporate Council for the Environment in 1987 to engage the business community in caring for Hawaii’s environment. In the past two decades, the Corporate Council for the Environment has grown into a coalition of local businesses who have given more than $3 million to protect Hawaii’s natural heritage.

From February to June 2007, local companies committed to preserving the environment by contributing an estimated $130,000 to The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i. Local businesses joining the Corporate Council for the Environment at the Executive Leadership Circle level ($10,000+) are: Alexander & Baldwin, Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., Maui Land & Pineapple, The Shidler Family Foundation, and the Westin Maui Resort & Spa.

Meredith Ching (second from left), senior vice president of Alexander & Baldwin, an Executive Leadership Circle level donor, presents check to Stanley Hong, Suzanne Case, and Jerrod Schreck.

Contributing at the Corporate Conservator level ($5,000-$9,999) are ABC Stores (Kosasa Foundation), Bank of Hawai‘i, The Cades Foundation (Cades Schutte), First Hawaiian Bank, First Insurance Company of Hawai‘i, Grove Farm Company, Inc., Haleakalâ Ranch Company, Kûki‘o, Kukui‘ula Development Company, and the Maryl Group, Inc.

“We are very grateful to our local companies for their continued generous support," said Suzanne Case, The Conservancy's Hawai`i Executive Director. “Working together with the business community allows us to achieve conservation results at a scale and scope that once appeared impossible. Their support allows us to continue to protect these extraordinary, beautiful islands we call home.”

Since 1980, The Nature Conservancy of Hawai`i has been conserving and managing native habitats and ecosystems in Hawai‘i. With a system of 11 preserves on the islands of O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i, Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i, the Conservancy directly protects 32,000 acres of critical habitat. Today, the Conservancy is taking conservation to a new level in Hawai‘i by protecting the larger landscapes and biological systems of which these preserves are a part. The Conservancy has also extended its work from the forests to the reefs and is engaged in marine conservation in the nearshore waters of the main Hawaiian Islands.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.