PORTLAND, Maine — The official nonprofit arm of the National Park Service is receiving the largest grant in its history: a $100 million gift that the fundraising group described as transformative for the nation’s national parks.
The National Park Foundation, which Congress created in the 1960s to support national parks, will receive the donation from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. The parks foundation on Monday described the gift as the largest donation in history to U.S. national parks.
The money will be used to support the needs of the country’s more than 400 national parks, said Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation.
The foundation hopes to announce the first round of grants resulting from the donation later this year, Shafroth said.
How exactly the money will be used remains to be seen, but one of the foundation’s priorities is: restore coral reefs in Florida’s Biscayne National Park, Shafroth said, while another priority is the restoration of trout species in western national parks.
Shafroth said the money will not only be used to fund initiatives that protect vulnerable ecosystems and species, but also to create opportunities for young people to visit national parks.
“This grant will allow us to strengthen our efforts to ensure that our national parks are accessible to everyone and for future generations,” he said.
The system’s hundreds of units include national parks, memorials, monuments, historic sites, and other locations. It includes iconic national parks such as Yellowstone National Park in Montana and Yosemite National Park in California, as well as beloved sites such as the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It also includes protected areas that are less accessible to many people, such as Buck Island Reef National Monument in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The National Park Foundation is launching its “Campaign for National Parks,” a $1 billion fundraising effort to support parks. Lilly Endowment made the gift to support the effort, said N. Clay Robbins, Lilly’s chairman and CEO.
“We believe the National Park Foundation’s campaign will enhance programming and promote the future vibrancy of our nation’s magnificent system of parks, monuments and historic sites,” Robbins said.
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