The official non-profit organization representing America’s National Parks has received notice that it is set to receive the largest philanthropic gift of its history.
$100 million has been set aside for the National Parks Foundation (NPF) from the Lilly Endowment for the purpose of protecting the most fragile ecosystems our parks contain.
Some national parks like Glacier or Canyonlands are enshrined to protect whole tracts of pristine landscape, while others are established to protect very small tracts of very vulnerable ecosystems, like Biscayne Bay and Channel Islands.
To that purpose, Lilly Endowment Inc. has made it known that the $100 million is for the purpose of protecting ecosystems at immediate risk of degradation.
AP reported that the money will be used to address the needs in sites beyond the 63 national parks, said Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the NPF, of which over 400 are managed by the National Park Service.
Restoring coral reefs in Biscayne Bay National Park and other reef-bearing parks, restoring wild trout species in western parks, and protecting the most delicate ecosystems have all been among the NPF’s recent work, and Shafroth expects the first round of grants stemming from the Lilly gift to be within these areas.
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Over much of the 21st century, a backlog of deferred maintenance in the national parks grew until it amounted to around $7 billion in needed work. The Great American Outdoors Act, passed by the 116th Congress and signed into law by President Trump, attempted to address this by permanently reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a mechanism that diverts 50% of all the money made from sales of energy (coal, oil, natural gas) on federally-owned land to conservation grants.
It was estimated by Congress that this would generate $9.5 billion for the national parks over five years. However, a recent re-examination of the maintenance needs by the NPS places the needed funding at around $24 billion.
In light of this, the NPF has launched a fund drive looking for private donors to make up part of the difference. Lilly is the first to have contributed.
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Philanthropic gifts like the one from Lilly are crucial as they allow the NPS to act immediately to address time-sensitive and critical projects while they, like all the other federal agencies, jockey over budget negotiations and allocation, the NPF said.
“For over 50 years, private philanthropy has played a vital role in bridging the gap between park needs and available funding. This grant will allow us to supercharge our efforts to ensure our national parks are for everyone, for generations to come,” President Shafroth said in a statement.
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