honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, October 15, 2007

Hawaii Gov. Lingle to keynote parks summit

Advertiser Staff

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Gov. Linda Lingle

spacer spacer

The National Park Foundation has invited Gov. Linda Lingle to give a keynote address at its National Park Foundation Leadership Summit next week in Austin, Texas.

The theme of the conference is "partnership and philanthropy" and will focus on ways to support parks into the next century.

Lingle, the only state governor addressing the group, will discuss successful partnerships between government agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses and communities to maintain areas such as Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, Haleakala National Park on Maui and the USS Arizona Memorial on O'ahu.

The governor's speech will be part of a three-day conference aimed at exploring and developing partnerships and preparing for the National Parks Centennial in 2016.

Legislation before Congress would raise up to $100 million each year for a decade to match donations with federal money.

Lingle was invited to speak by first lady Laura Bush, honorary chairwoman of the National Parks Foundation.

The governor's speech will be webcast live on Tuesday at 3:30 a.m. at www.hawaii.gov/gov and posted on the Web site later that day.

It will also be webcast live on www.nationalparkssummit.org.

The National Park Foundation is a nonprofit organization chartered by Congress in 1967 to foster philanthropy for the benefit of national parks.

"The state of our parks at the centennial celebration in 2016 will say a lot about our priorities as a nation," said Vin Cipolla, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation, in a news release.

"Private citizens and philanthropy have always played an important role in our national park system and will continue to be vital in guaranteeing its future."

Other speakers at the meeting are to include U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.