Climate Change Could Cause More Than $40 Billion In Damage To National Parks

First published on ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which was recently named one of Time magazine’s Top 25 blogs of 2010.

A report released this week by the National Park Service (NPS) found that sea level rise — a phenomenon caused by climate change — could cause more than $40 billion in damage to America’s national parks.

The report, released in time for the two-year anniversary of the announcement of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, examines the effects of a sea level rise on 40 coastal national parks across the United States. The NPS study examined “assets” in each national park, defined as historic sites, infrastructure, museum collections, and other cultural resources, finding that over 39 percent of the 10,000 assets were categorized as “high-exposure” to sea-level rise caused by climate change.

In total, it found, damages to high-exposure assets would cost taxpayers more than $40 billion.

“Climate change is visible at national parks across the country, but this report underscores the economic importance of cutting carbon pollution and making public lands more resilient to its dangerous impacts,” said Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in a press release on Tuesday. Jewell also expressed hope that the NPS research could be used to “help protect some of America’s most iconic places.”

According to the study, low-lying coastal parks in the NPS’s Southeast Region will face the greatest risk for damage. Cost estimates of rebuilding infrastructure and assets at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, a prominent national park in North Carolina, stand at $1.2 billion. In addition to the Southeast regions, high exposure sites include the Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate, and the Redwoods.

Though the rise in sea level will vary based on location, in general scientists project that a one meter rise will occur over the next 100 to 150 years.

On Earth Day at Everglades National Park, another coastal park at high risk for damage, President Obama discussed the impacts of climate change on natural resources and described protecting national parks as “a good investment.” Additionally, he highlighted the specific restoration work in the Everglades, which is “one of the best defenses against climate change and rising sea levels,” and called on Congress to reauthorize and “fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supports this work across the country.”

Created more than 50 years ago, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is a budget-neutral program that uses revenues from offshore oil and gas development fees to fund federal, state and local conservation projects. LWCF has protected close to five million acres of public lands, including some of the country’s most iconic places such as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park.

However, with the LWCF set to expire on September 30, inaction from Congress to reauthorize the program could result in dramatic decreases in funding for public lands and national park protections and resiliency programs. This would mean a restricted ability for national parks and other public lands to respond to the threat of sea level rise, as well as a significant loss for state and local conservation projects across the country.

On Thursday, at a bipartisan press conference calling for reauthorization of the LWCF before it expires in less than 100 days, Congressman Patrick Meehan (R-PA) praised the LWCF as “our nation’s single most successful conservation program,” and warned that without Congressional action, “the fund and its ongoing preservation projects will be in danger.” He continued, saying that “this could lead to the end of conservation projects and destruction of land that can never be undone […] It’s one of those rare issues that can earn support from both sides of the aisle.”

Announcing this week’s report, Rebecca Beavers, a lead NPS scientist and author of the report, said that “information from this report provides a useful way to help determine priorities for planning within coastal parks.”

The Department of the Interior plans to release an analysis of 30 additional coastal national park sites later this summer.

Annie Wang is an intern with the Public Lands Project at the Center for American Progress.

The post Climate Change Could Cause More Than $40 Billion In Damage To National Parks appeared first on ThinkProgress.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/26/3674709/national-parks-at-risk-from-climate-change/