The U.S. senator, a Hawai’i Democrat and senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has been able to secure millions of dollars in federal funding to help protect native Hawaiian birds and rebuild infrastructure at the national park.
The Keauhou Bird Conservation Center, near Volcano, is one of two centers operated through a partnership between San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife, for the care and perpetuation of numerous critically endangered Hawaiian forest birds.