Mary McEldowney-Evanson

Mary McEldowney-Evanson co-founded the organization Friends of Haleakalā National Park in partnership with the National Park Service, and her name became synonymous with environmental activism on Maui. December 20 was proclaimed as "Mary Evanson Day" by Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa to honor her 95th birthday in 2016.

Conservation work

In the earliest days of her conservation work after relocating to Maui, Evanson worked on the Haleakalā fencing project with the Sierra Club. Evanson often expressed her love for Haleakalā, sharing on multiple occasions that that deep appreciation for the wildlife and witnessing the obvious dwindling health of the mountain was what drove her to create the FHNP organization. as a director for 27 years. The Kanaio Natural Area Reserve Evanson's impact was so great that she was posthumously honored by the Friends of Haleakalā National Park in their "Reeser, Evanson, Duvall Memorial Scholarship", where recipients are those continuing studies in a field related to the biology, ecology, and/or the conservation of the Haleakalā National Park ecosystem, furthermore continuing the work that Evanson began.