National Tropical Botanical Garden to Build Kauai's First "Green" Building

Kalaheo, Kaua'i, HI USA (January 23, 2007) - The Hawaiian Island of Kaua'i will soon have its first "green" building, thanks to the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG). The non-profit conservation organization is set to break ground on its new multi-million-dollar Botanical Research Center later this month; however, it is seeking financial support to complete the project.

Thoughtfully designed by Dean Sakamoto, AIA, Critic in Design and Director of Exhibitions at the Yale University School of Architecture, the Botanical Research Center will be the island's first building to meet the exacting standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification system. LEED requirements include environmental architecture and design, sustainable site management, transportation alternatives, water conservation, energy efficiency, environmentally safe materials, recycling, indoor air quality control and innovation in design.

Among the Research Center's key "green" features will be a roof designed to capture rainwater for on-site use, mechanical and electrical systems that will provide multiple back-ups for short- and long-term operation during any emergency, and a reinforced concrete design that will be built to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds.

The two-story 20,000-square-foot Botanical Research Center will allow NTBG to better fulfill its mission to preserve tropical plant diversity through plant exploration, propagation, habitat restoration, scientific research, and education. It will house the Garden's extraordinary Loy McCandless Marks Botanical Library, its unique and ever-growing herbarium collections, a room for processing and drying new plant collections, research office spaces, work counters, computer lab, seminar space and dedicated space for storage of institutional items.

Once completed, the Research Center will not only serve the national and international research communities but also the local community. Students will have the opportunity to learn first hand about tropical botany, horticulture, ethnobotany, and the importance of traditional ecological knowledge combined with natural and cultural resource management.

Federally chartered by Congress in 1964 as a non-profit organization, NTBG is comprised of a network of gardens and preserves, including McBryde Garden, Allerton Garden, and Limahuli Garden and Preserve on the island of Kaua'i; Kahanu Garden on Maui; The Kampong in Florida; and three preserves on the Big Island of Hawai'i. With nearly 1,800 acres encompassing various tropical ecosystems, extensive living collections of endangered or at-risk species, and precious cultural and historical features, NTBG plays an important role in the complex web of life.

With its mission to enrich life through discovery, scientific research, conservation, and education by perpetuating the survival of plants, ecosystems, and cultural knowledge of tropical regions, NTBG serves as a national resource. It is poised to address the crisis in extinction of tropical plants in Hawai'i and the Pacific since scientists worldwide have documented that 90 percent of all biodiversity on the planet exists in the tropics, and that Hawai'i is home to more endangered plants and animals than almost all of the other states combined.

NTBG's living collections include the largest assemblages of native Hawaiian plant species and of breadfruit cultivars in existence; many of which are threatened and endangered or have already disappeared from their native habitats. NTBG also serves as living laboratories for staff scientists and visiting researchers from all over the world and living classrooms for people of all ages and interests. NTBG relies on support from the community, private foundations, donors and its members to fulfill its mission to preserve and perpetuate tropical plants for future generations. Members' dues help support the vital activities that make the difference in saving and understanding tropical plants, which are at the most risk of extinction. To join or to make a donation, call (808) 332-7324 x243 or visit http://ourgardenourworld.com/.

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Caroline Witherspoon or Danielle Douglass
Becker Communications, Inc. (808) 533-4165