EN and El Yunque National Forest Win 2023 Partnership Award for Innovative Product

The Public Lands Alliance 2023 Partnership Award for Innovative Product has been awarded to Eastern National and El Yunque National Forest for the Adopt-A-Parrot Plush. This award recognizes an interpretive product created in partnership by a nonprofit organization and a land management agency that embodies a path-breaking approach to achieve a public lands mission.

Eastern National and El Yunque National Forest collaborated to educate and engage forest visitors about ongoing parrot recovery efforts, through the creation of an adopt-a-parrot plush. When a visitor adopts (or purchases) a plush Puerto Rican parrot, the visitor receives an adoption certificate in their choice of English or Spanish, allowing them to name their parrot and support parrot conservation. The Adopt-A-Parrot Plush program symbolizes a young person’s commitment to our earth and its future. Purchasing a plush and signing the certificate to care for the stuffed parrot may be the first conservation act a young person makes.