Fishing boat cruises Wood River: Photo by Clark James Mishler

Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar today presented one of 26 national awards annually given to collaborative conservation projects to the Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Partnership, which has pieced together protected status for 94,000 acres of salmon habitat in the Bristol Bay and Kuskokwim River drainages since 2001.

The partnership includes village and regional Native corporations, tribal groups, nonprofits, foundations and state and federal agencies. Also, companies ranging from the Bear Bay Lodge to Conoco Phillips chipped in support.

Here's what one of the partners said about it:

"The salmon habitat partnership has become the forum, in the absence of any other, in which all landowners in Southwest Alaska can work together to achieve real protection for salmon habitat," said Tim Troll, director of the Nature Conservancy's Southwest Alaska program.

"With this infusion of support, we're able to imagine a future in Bristol Bay that emphasizes cooperative land and resource management in the way Gov. Jay Hammond envisioned."