National Park Foundation Supports Climate Resiliency through $4.1M+ Investment in Service Corps Programs All Over the Country

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Aspen Ideas Climate: The National Park Foundation Highlights How Service Corps Can Help Respond To The Climate Change Impacts

MIAMI, May 10, 2022/PRNewswire/ The National Park Foundation is pleased to announce its fiscal 2022 investment in service corp programs across the country at Aspen Ideas: Climate. Aspen Ideas: Climate is a multi-day event that focuses on local and global solutions for the climate crisis. Many of these service corps programs help parks be more resilient to climate change, and people improve their environmental stewardship.

Service corps respond to climate change impacts in real-time.

“Service corps respond to climate change’s impacts in real-time, from addressing habitat degradation and invasive species to trail restoration,” stated Will ShafrothPresident and CEO of National Park Foundation. “In collaboration the National Park Service, corps partners, and the National Park Foundation, the National Park Foundation assists parks and local communities to confront these challenges that ultimately impact all of us.”

Over $2.2 million was awarded by the National Park Foundation during fiscal year 2022. $4.1 MillionService corps projects that highlight the National Park System’s depth and breadth and the many ways climate change is affecting parks and communities. Many service corps are involved in trail maintenance projects due to increased rainwater runoff, more severe weather events, and want to ensure that park trails are safe and accessible for visitors, while also protecting the park’s ecosystem. The National Park Foundation also recognizes the socially vulnerable.ⁱClimate change is a major threat to the health of populations.ⁱⁱThe National Park Foundation partners with service corps partners to make these realities more real and to provide communities with the resources and support they need to be more resilient to climate change.

“The service corps’ work is an important component of our efforts to address the climate crisis using science and traditional ecological know-how,” said the statement. Director, National Park Service Chuck Sams. “Having started my conservation career in Youth Corp, I know this partnership, its energized and committed young stewards, play a crucial part in tackling climate change by providing the needed capacity to analyze and monitor, document, and address issues affecting national parks.

The National Park Service is not only unprecedented in its size and scope, but it is also rising to the climate challenge. comprehensive strategyThis promotes science, adaptation, sustainable operations, and broad communication. The National Park Foundation’s investment into service corps programs supports National Park Service Climate Change Response Strategy by encouraging cooperation and collaboration to better understand the impacts of Climate Change through efforts such mitigation and resiliency as well as wildlife protection and fuels management. ⁱⁱⁱCommunity support.

“Climate Change is a Risk Multiplier” – It can magnify the impact of other national park concerns, such as invasive species and wildfire, flooding, erosion, and increasing the risk of loss of cultural resources like archeological sites, natural resource, and park infrastructure.” Joel H. Reynolds, Ph.D. National Park Service climate scientist. “These climate-driven changes present new challenges and require new tools. NPS’s service corps members help meet these challenges while gaining valuable experience with the new skills and perspectives needed to adapt in this era climate change.

The Corps Network conducted a survey earlier this year to determine the ability of service corp organizations to scale up and complete climate project. More than 140 organizations responded to the survey and indicated that they have the potential to grow if there was enough support. More than 50% of respondents stated that their organizations could grow more than 100 percent if they had the right funding and staff resources. This is in a timeframe of less than two years. The Corps Network plans on using the survey findings to work with its partners to reduce obstacles to corps expansion and ensure equitable growth.

“I am inspired every day by the thousands of young adults across all 50 states who show up to serve our country through corps programmes. “The projects that corps do to make our communities more resilient are becoming increasingly important, from restoring shorelines to preserving historic structures to treating wildfire fuels to planting trees, these are all things that we must all do.” Mary Ellen SprenkelPresident and CEO of The Corps Network. “I would like to express my deep appreciation to the National Park Foundation, not only for their continued support of these projects but also for the corps participants.” We need a diverse and emerging generation of stewards in the corps today.

The National Park Foundation partners with the National Park Service and over 30 other partner organizations throughout fiscal year 2022 ^ivto support a diverse network serving corps crews. Some of the National Park Foundation-supported corps crews include:

Enhance the Sustainability of Trails in Chattahoochee National Recreation Area, Georgia
A Student Conservation Association crew of diverse identities will be responsible for restoring priority trails throughout the Chattahoochee Valley National Recreation Area’s 15 land areas. Trails can become muddy and difficult-to-follow due to increased visitor use and storm frequency. Climate change also causes more frequent flooding and higher river flows, which can lead to erosion along riverside trails. As the park faces increasing storm frequency and visitor use, the crew’s work will heavily depend on the Park’s first ever Trails Management Plan. This plan will help to ensure that park trails are sustainable.

Management of Invasive Species, Wildfire Risks Grand Teton National ParkWyoming
American Conservation Experience (ACE), Queer Inclusion Crew will maintain trails, invasive species control and fire mitigation activities in order to address climate change. The ACE Queer Inclusion crew will be working alongside the park’s vegetation ecology team and management biologist to map cheatgrass infestations. This is an invasive species that is particularly concerned with climate change. Along with Fire-Effects Monitoring personnel, the crew will monitor various vegetation treatments that can be associated with reducing wildfire danger and enhancing wildlife habitat. The crew will collect data to study whitebark pine’s responses to wildfire.

Addressing Climate Change and Promoting Environmental Justice along the Musconetcong Wild & Scenic River in New Jersey
Climate change is affecting New JerseyThis is mainly due to increased rainfall, which results in increased inland flooding and humidity. These factors have made portions of the Musconetcong Educational Trail inaccessible during high water events and have caused stream bank erosion. In collaboration with Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation a New Jersey County Student Conservation Association corps trail crew will develop and restore the Musconetcong Educational Trail as a 3.8-mile loop. They will move segments of the trail to higher ground from the streambank edges, install steppingstones that reduce disturbance to hydric soils, and construct bog bridges to cross wetland. The project will also promote environmental justice by including the Lenape language, acknowledging the Ramapough Lenape’s ancestral and ongoing connections to the lands, and building bog bridges for crossing wetland areas.

Waco Mammoth National Monument in Texas, Erosion Mitigation Saves Ice Age Fossils
Waco Mammoth National Monument has been designated in 2015 to protect and preserve the “nation’s only recorded discovery (females, offspring) of Pleistocene Mammoths.” The park also preserves several unexcavated fossil deposits that likely contain mammoths and other Ice Age fossils. Recent extreme weather events have caused many of the unexcavated fossil resources of Waco Mammoth to be destroyed by runoff, as well as other impacts of climate change. A Conservation Legacy service corps crew consisting of first-generation college students will help to mitigate the impacts of climate change. This includes the increased aridity and the increased frequency of flash flooding. These students will terracing Turtle Bluff and using vegetation as a barrier to slow down flood waters before they reach the slope. The National Park Service staff and service corps crew will work together to implement erosion control and weathering controls in a modern landscape to protect the Pleistocene wilds and inhabitants of central. Texas.

View the Full list of NPF Service Corps GranteesFor fiscal year 2022

“With the support of the National Park Foundation and cooperation from Conservation Legacy, our hiring partner Conservation Legacy, Waco Mammoth National Monument has the opportunity to collaborate with first-generation college students to help mitigate climate change-related problems,” said Dr. Lindsey T. YannWaco Mammoth National Memorial paleontologist,. “Our goal is for these service corps members to feel a sense belonging and a sense of dedication, in the hope that they will be the next generation scientists, artists, engineers, advocates, and advocates.”

The National Park Foundation has invested more than $2.5 million. $4.1 millionIn service corps programs in fiscal 2022, including support from Communities and Workforce partners Carhartt and Winnebago Industries Foundation and partners Nature Valley and Apple, REI Co-op American Express, Free People and Publix Super Markets. The JPB Foundation provides additional funding. Annie and Kevin Parker, and many others. Several projects are also being leveraged using federal funds that were authorized for the National Park Foundation by the 2016 National Park Service Centennial Act, (PL 114-289).

The National Park Foundation has made more than 2,000 grants since 2018, inclusive of fiscal year 2022. $15 millionOver 180 service corps crews.

NPF’s Communities and Workforce initiative can be supported by individuals, foundations, and businesses. This includes continued investments in service corps programs. National Park Foundation website.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL PARKFOUNDATION
The National Park Foundation protects wildlife and parks lands, preserves history and culture, engages youth and connects people all over the world to the wonders of parks. We do this in collaboration with the National Park Service, park partners and with the generous support donated by donors. Without their support, our work wouldn’t be possible. Learn more at nationalparks.org.

ⁱThe peer-reviewed report by the EPA identifies socially vulnerable individuals based on income and educational attainment.

ⁱⁱEPA Report Shows Disproportionate Climate Change Impacts on Socially Vulnerable Populations The United States, September 1, 2021

ⁱⁱⁱPrescribed burns, which are planned to change or reduce wildland fuels, can be used in fuel management. They also help to maintain healthy park ecosystems and decrease the risk for severe wildlandfires.

^ivNational Park Foundation partners include Appalachian Conservation Corps and Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Canyon Country Discovery Center and Child and Family Services of are also included. Northwestern Michigan, Inc., Conservation Corps North Bay, Conservation Corps North Carolina, Conservation Corps of American YouthWorks, Conservation Legacy, CorpsTHAT, Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps, Environment for the Americas, Friends of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Friends of Saguaro National Park, Inc., Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, Great Basin Institute, Groundwork USA, Ice Age Trail Alliance, Intermountain Regional Office NPS Submerged Resources Center, Mile High Youth Corps, Mississippi Park Connection, National Park Service Historic Preservation Training Center, Northwest Youth Corps, Rock Creek Conservancy, Rocky Mountain Conservancy, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps – NM, Santa Monica Mountains Fund, SEEDS, Southeast Conservation Corps, Southwest Conservation Corps, Student Conservation Association, Texas Conservation Corps, Urban Corps of San Diego County, Wabanaki Youth in Science, and Watershed Committee of the Ozarks.