Project Profile: Planting, Thinning, & Reintroduction to Promote Health and Climate Resilience in Midwestern Forests

Forest in Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, Minnesota.

NPS / Gordon Dietzman

Inflation Reduction Act
Resilience | FY23-25 $3,616,980

The National Park Service (NPS) will strengthen forest resilience in Midwestern parks by implementing a comprehensive strategy rooted in the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) Restoration and Resilience frameworks. The NPS will implement management actions such as restoring and preparing altered forests and conifer plantations to adapt to climate change, and enabling science-informed and data-driven management actions to support resilient forest ecosystems that can survive and even recover from impacts caused by severe weather, climate change, or other environmental stressors.

Why? Forest management practices, such as conifer plantations and fire suppression, coupled with the impacts of climate change stressors (such as insect outbreaks and wildfires) have negatively affected forest health and holistic resiliency. By improving Midwestern forests’ resilience, this project will benefit visitor experience and yield cascading benefits for these ecosystems – habitat enhancement for vulnerable species, clean water provision, biodiversity enrichment in native populations, and increased wildfire resilience.

What Else? This project proactively confronts the climate crisis and improves access to nature in disadvantaged communities, especially in communities adjacent to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.

About the Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act provides the National Park Service with an historic opportunity to address critical ecosystem resilience, restoration, and environmental planning needs. Projects funded in national parks represent broad-scale and impactful resource investments across every corner of out nation—from Alaska to Florida to Maine.