WASHINGTON – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva announced today that $500,000 is included in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment report language for U.S. Geological Survey budget to reinstate funding for the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN). Rep. Grijalva made this request earlier this year.
The USA-NPN provides crucial insight into how species and ecosystems are affected by changing climate conditions, including the direct ties to information for resource management, adaptation, human health, agriculture, forecasting, and tourism applications. It brings together volunteer observers, government agencies, non-profit groups, educators and students of all ages to monitor the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States.
“Our rapidly changing climate is having far reaching consequences for our environment and impacting seasonal events across our nation,” said Rep. Grijalva. “This funding is vital to ensuring climate adaptation, management, and response by engaging audiences from professional scientists to school children to gather seasonal data. I will continue to support the USA National Phenology Network as a critical climate crisis program.”
“This funding will allow the USA National Phenology Network, based at the University of Arizona, to expand use of the Nature’s Notebook phenology monitoring platform for national-scale phenology data collection to support scientific discovery and management decisions,” said Theresa Crimmins, Director of the USA National Phenology Network and professor, University of Arizona. “It will also allow the USA-NPN to develop new ecological forecasts to better manage invasive grasses, understand pollinator resources, and develop additional forecasts based on Department of the Interior and other stakeholder priorities . It will allow the USA-NPN to ensure benefit to Indigenous communities and advance partnerships with groups underrepresented in science, through collaborations with Tribal Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, meeting their priorities related to phenological information and undergraduate and graduate training.”
This funding is an important victory for Rep. Grijalva and the Biden administration. Under the Trump administration, Republicans stripped funding from the USA-NPN depriving resources for seasonal climate and local data gathering.
More information on the USA-NPN can be found here.