KILAUEA — The Friends of Kaua‘i Wildlife Refuges, the nonprofit group that provides support to the Kaua‘i National Wildlife Refuge Complex, continued its support of education of future conservation by awarding thousands of dollars in scholarships from a fund honoring the legacy of Daniel Moriarty.
“This year, the Friends of Kaua‘i Wildlife Refuges is providing a total of $16,500 in scholarship awards to eight students from Hawai‘i studying towards conservation careers,” said Thomas Dauber, the executive director for Friends of Kaua‘i Wildlife Refuges. “We are honored to support their education and look forward to their future contributions to conservation work across Hawai‘i nei.”
Recipients of the Daniel Moriarty Memorial Scholarships are Samantha Alvarado, Natalie Abao Blum, Nandi Fisher, Shu Hoo, Emma Seres, Ciaralen Tolentino, Hi‘ilani Ventura and Elise Yukimura.
These students are pursuing degrees within a wide array of wildlife conservation-based areas, including biology, botany, environmental science, marine biology and tropical plant and soil science.
“These students are honoring the legacy of Dan Moriarty who was an outstanding environmental educator and conservationist that played a major role in developing Kilauea Point NWR, land fostering a strong conservation ethic within our community,” Daubert said.
“Since 1998, Kilauea Point Natural History Association, now doing business as Friends of Kaua‘i Wildlife Refuges, has awarded $177,500 in scholarships in Moriarty’s name. The Friends continues to work to inspire, support, and develop tomorrow’s conservationists.”
Moriarty managed the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge from 1979 to 1990. His tireless efforts in restoring native vegetation and protecting seabirds were largely responsible for transforming the former lighthouse grounds and surrounding cliffs into one of the premier wildlife refuges in the world, Daubert said.
Moriarty also spearheaded the successful drive to acquire Nihoku (Crater Hill) and Mokolea to make them part of the Refuge.
In 1998, the organization endowed a scholarship fund in his memory and has continued to award annual scholarships in his name.
Each year, students studying in the broadly-defined fields of botany, zoology, natural history and related subjects concerning the Hawaiian environment are encouraged to apply for a scholarship.
Eligibility on scholarships are based on students being a resident of Hawai‘i within the last five years, been accepted or enrolled in a four-year college or university, or a two-year program provided by a community college, and maintained a grade point average of 3.0 or better.
Scholarship awards are made possible through generous donations to the Daniel Moriarty Scholarship Fund and from proceeds of sales from the Nature Store at Kilauea Point NWR.
Information: www.kauairefuges.org, scholarship@kilaueapoint.org, or call Daubert at 808-828-0384.
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The Garden Island
