Lindsay Young

Lindsay Young is the executive director of Pacific Rim Conservation, a non-profit organization she co-founded with Eric VanderWerf to address research and management needs of native species across the Pacific. She earned a B.S. from the Univ. of British Columbia and an MS and Ph.D. in zoology from the Univ. of Hawaii. Lindsay has specialized in creating “mainland islands” through predator proof fencing followed by habitat restoration and seabird attraction and translocation. She was the project coordinator for the Kaena Point Ecosystem Restoration Project which installed the first predator proof fence in the U.S. at Kaena Point on Oahu in 2011 and eradicated all predators soon after. In 2014 she oversaw the construction of a predator proof fence at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge followed by intensive habitat restoration in anticipation of translocating Hawaiian Petrels and Newell’s Shearwaters. The first Hawaiian Petrel translocation at the site was successfully completed in the fall of 2015 and will be followed by translocating Newell’s Shearwaters in 2016. Her research has been focused on the demography of Laysan Albatrosses, and, in particular, the evolutionary significance of same sex pairing in that species. Lindsay has authored several dozen scientific papers, served as the treasurer for the Pacific Seabird Group, the local chair of PSG twice, the chair of the North Pacific Albatross Working Group, the North Pacific correspondent for ACAP (Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels).

The Pacific Seabird Group awards Lindsay Young with a Special Achievement Award in recognition of her perseverance to protect and conserve Hawaiian seabirds and her sustained commitment to the Pacific Seabird Group.