SPOKANE, Wash.- The US Department of the Interior announced a funding push for protecting national parks from climate change on Feb. 27.
The Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law in 2022 and was a key legislative victory for the Biden Administration. It will fund nearly the $200 million in federal studies and projects to make national parks more resilient in the face of rising global temperatures.
That funding will include a combined $2.5 million investment in determining the vulnerability of national park water resources to climate change. Currently undetermined Washington parks will be included in the assessment according to the National Park Service.
Another $2 million will fund protections of whitebark pine at North Cascades National Park, Mount Rainier, and Olympic National Park.
The announcement comes after a historically destructive 2023 fire season in Spokane and the development of a federal Wildfire Crisis Strategy by the current White House.
