A $100 million gift to the country's national parks is the largest ever received, reports the National Park Service, and will have a "transformative" impact. It comes from Lilly Endowment, a philanthropic group established by the descendents of Eli Lilly, founder of the eponymous pharmaceutical giant.
The money will be used to address the needs of the country's more than 400 national park sites, said Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation.
The foundation hopes to announce the first round of grants stemming from the donation later this year, Shafroth said.
Exactly how the money will be utilized remains to be seen, but one of the foundation's priorities is restoring coral reefs at Biscayne National Park in Florida, Shafroth said, while another priority is the restoration of trout species in western national parks. Those are among the foundation's recent investments.
A variety of things have been proposed to help National Parks make money, ranging from debatable (golf courses, resorts, vinyards) to disagreeable (oil drilling, residential development) and this will quieten the pressure.
Previously:
• Trump exposes National Parks to oil company drilling
• United States National Parks are now free
• Government shutdown puts national parks in nightmare mode
• Some really fun posters of the Muppets celebrating the National Parks
• America's National Parks are for sale
• Preserving human history in a National Park
