National Park Foundation philanthropic dollars have helped remove invasive cattail vegetation in Voyageurs National Park/NPS

National park philanthropy doesn't stop when it comes to trail and campground maintenance, science and research, or bringing inner-city youth to a park. Each year nearly $1.5 million from the National Park Foundation goes towards battling invasive species across the system.

Each year, the foundation receives donations targeted for invasive species removal work in the National Park System.

"The National Park Foundation funds approximately $1.4 million annually on service/climate corps projects that have a built-in invasive species component, whether it's directly removing the vegetation, trail work that involves invasive species, or fire mitigation," said Jason Corzine, the foundation's vice president who oversees strategies around the foundation's work in the area of protecting and preserving resources in the park system.

"Our natural resource program will spend about $690,000 this year on invasives work," he told the Traveler. "Invasives is a component of the overall projects that we fund in the natural resource space. Going forward, I expect that amount to be a typical future average as donor interest in this work continues to grow. Last year we funded approximately $200,000 for invasive related projects."

Projects the foundation helped fund include:

• Yellowstone National Park -  In partnership with Yellowstone Forever, the foundation continues to support the restoration of the native cutthroat trout population in Yellowstone Lake, which was decimated by invasive lake trout. The park has seen a tremendous recovery of the cutthroat species and the larger Yellowstone ecosystem, which has led to the return of grizzly bears, bald eagles, and dozens of other iconic species that dine on the cutthroat.
• Everglades National Park -  Hole in the Donut project. Thanks to an innovative public-private partnership between the Everglades National Park, Miami-Dade County and the National Park Foundation, a 6,300-acre hole in the heart of the Everglades has been restored from abandoned agricultural land to native sawgrass prairie. The project, aptly named the Hole in the Donut, was funded through a mitigation bank, the first in Florida and the only one in the National Park System. Mitigation banking is a system of credits and debits devised to ensure that ecological loss, especially loss to wetlands and streams resulting from various development works, is compensated by the preservation and restoration of wetlands, natural habitats, and streams in other areas so that there is no net loss to the environment. 
  
  Using mitigation funds from credits applied to permitted development projects in Miami­-Dade and Broward Counties, Everglades National Park with the help of the National Park Foundation, has invested more than $35 million since 1995 to fill the Hole in the Donut. This wetland restoration will help restore native species to Everglades National Park and help to reduce salt water intrusion into the Biscayne Aquifer that provides freshwater for the city of Miami.
• Everglades National Park – a new partnership with Publix to restore Saline Glades, removing invasive Australian pine.
• Big Thicket National Park & Preserve - restore the park’s Longleaf Pine savanna habitat and ecosystem. Longleaf pine savanna is one of Big Thicket’s major ecosystems and is home to numerous state and federally listed species. Degraded pine savanna is characterized by invasion by shrubs and hardwood trees that result in out-competition of longleaf pines and ground layer plants, as well as dangerous build-up of fire fuels. As part of this restoration effort service corps will help rehabilitate longleaf pine savanna by removing invasive shrubs and undergrowth. Service corps members will target high priority areas including those located near federally endangered habitat, interpretive signage, recently planted restoration sites, and sensitive wetland savannah.
• Voyageurs National Park, Rainy and Kabetogama Lakes Wetland Restoration: Invasive hybrid cattail has invaded wetlands in the Border Waters near Voyageurs National Park, displacing native vegetation, reducing biodiversity, degrading fish and wildlife habitat, impairing recreational opportunities, and degrading cultural resources, especially wild rice. National Park Foundation granted from the foundation's centennial appropriations to aid in the removal of the cattail and restore up to 1,016 acres of wetlands on Rainy and Kabetogama lakes. This funding will serve as a match for the State of Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Fund.
• Tallgrass Prairie National Park - Tallgrass Prairie is a fundamental resource at the preserve and trees continue to invade, fragmenting prairie habitats. The lack of seasonal staff during the spring/summer months of 2020, due to COVID, limited the preserve's ability to manage invading trees. The foundation provided $100,000 to the preserve to increase non-permanent natural resource staff and allow for up to three years of invasive plant management. By focusing additional efforts to trees and other invasive species, the preserve - along with the preserve partner – The Nature Conservancy, plan to improve the condition of the tallgrass prairie and bring invasive plant management activities back to a level that is manageable with typical seasonal staff numbers.
• Point Reyes Drakes Estero restoration - Remove and clean up five miles of oyster racks, non-native shellfish, and 500 tons of marine debris to allow eelgrass beds, which are critical to the reproduction of fish and overall health of the estuary, to expand into areas covered in debris. The 2,500-acre estuary complex known as Drakes Estero is made up of five branching bays that are home to thousands of species of fish, wildlife, birds, and mammals including the iconic harbor seal. NPF helped to restore the ecological balance of the estuary through the cleanup of 5 miles of oyster racks and 500 tons of marine debris. This massive effort removed invasive species and encouraged the natural recovery of native eelgrass beds which provide protection, shelter, and food for thousands of species in this marine wilderness.