US national parks are receiving record-high gift of $100M

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The official nonprofit group of the Nationwide Park Service is ready to obtain the biggest grant in its historical past, a $100 million reward the fundraising group described as transformative for the nation’s nationwide parks.

The Nationwide Park Basis, which Congress created within the Nineteen Sixties to help nationwide parks, will obtain the donation from Indianapolis-based basis Lilly Endowment Inc. The park basis described the reward on Monday as the biggest grant in historical past benefiting U.S. nationwide parks.

The cash will likely be used to handle the wants of the nation’s greater than 400 nationwide park websites, stated Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the Nationwide Park Basis.

The muse hopes to announce the primary spherical of grants stemming from the donation later this yr, Shafroth stated.

Precisely how the cash will likely be utilized stays to be seen, however one of many basis’s priorities is restoring coral reefs at Biscayne Nationwide Park in Florida, Shafroth stated, whereas one other precedence is the restoration of trout species in western nationwide parks. These are among the many basis’s current investments.

Along with funding initiatives that shield fragile ecosystems and species, Shafroth stated the cash may also be used to create alternatives for younger folks to go to nationwide parks.

“This grant will enable us to supercharge our efforts to make sure our nationwide parks are for everybody, for generations to come back,” he stated.

The system’s tons of of models embrace nationwide parks, memorials, monuments, historic websites and different places. It contains iconic nationwide parks equivalent to Yellowstone Nationwide Park in Montana and Yosemite Nationwide Park in California, in addition to beloved websites such because the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It additionally contains preserved areas which might be much less accessible to many individuals, equivalent to Buck Island Reef Nationwide Monument within the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Nationwide Park Basis is within the midst of its “Marketing campaign for Nationwide Parks,” a $1 billion fundraising effort to help parks. Lilly Endowment made the reward to help that effort, stated N. Clay Robbins, chair and CEO of Lilly Endowment.

“We imagine the Nationwide Park Basis’s marketing campaign will improve the programming in and promote the longer term vibrancy of our nation’s marvelous system of parks, monuments and historic websites,” Robbins stated.

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The Lilly Endowment offers funding for Related Press protection of democracy, philanthropy, and faith.