The Department of Interior has announced a commitment of $52 million toward strengthening climate resilience in America’s national parks, including funds to help conserve whitebark pines.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks will share about $715,000 with seven other parks in Montana, California and Washington to assist in restoration of the federally threatened tree species important to many wildlife species, including grizzly bears.

Annual whitebark cone production has been linked with changes in grizzly bear survival, reproduction, movement and frequency of management actions, the National Park Service reports.

“Abundant cone crops may influence nutrition, but they also affect bear foraging behaviors in ways that likely decrease vulnerability to human-caused mortality. When whitebark pine production is good, grizzly bears tend to use higher elevations, where the risk of bear-human conflict is lower and survival is higher,” members of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study team wrote in their report of the relationship between the two species.

In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the most immediate threat has been the mountain pine beetle, a cambium-feeding insect that usually kills its pine host to reproduce. Historically limited by low winter temperatures at high elevations, recent beetle outbreaks, able to survive in the warmer temperatures, have expanded into whitebark pine range and caused mortality to more than 80% of the whitebark pine stands in the ecosystem.

A 2009 court ruling that restored protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears cited in part the tree’s decline, although government studies later concluded grizzlies could find alternative food sources.

Without this dedicated conservation effort, threats from plant disease, beetle infestation, changing fire regimes and climate change could cause irreversible loss of the species, including whitebark pine forests, which supplement food resources for 19 wildlife species including the threatened grizzly bear, according to a Tuesday press release from the Department of Interior announcing the funding.

“Nature is one of our best tools in improving our resilience to climate change and creating a thriving sustainable economy,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we are making coordinated investments to safeguard our national park system, advance nature-based solutions in our efforts to address the climate crisis, safeguard endangered species, and ensure clean air and clean water for all.”

The $52 million investment will support 43 projects across 39 states. Two Wyoming national parks will also share $410,000 with 10 other parks to enhance operational capacity for bison conservation as well as a share of $1.6 million to assess water systems in parks vulnerable to drought and water restrictions.

The Inflation Reduction Act is investing $1 million for on-the-ground sagebrush restoration in Grand Teton National Park and five other national parks. An additional $105,000 from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help increase the availability and diversity of native plant seed needed for restoration. At Grand Teton, hayfields cultivated by homesteaders prior to park establishment are being restored to native sagebrush communities at a landscape-scale. This improves habitat quality and connectivity increasing resilience for pronghorn, bison, elk, mule deer, and greater sage grouse among other species in this iconic conservation landscape. Approximately $1 million of the funding will support removal of nonnative pasture grasses and expand native seed sources necessary for restoration. These funds leverage funding from Federal and philanthropic sources acquired over the past 15 years to achieve added value and amplify project effects at a landscape scale.

“From providing critical care to cultural resources at risk in Alaska, to mitigating climate change impacts on coral reefs, these projects will support ongoing efforts to restore habitats, address climate change impacts, and bolster park resources for years to come,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “Many of these projects support restoration and resilience efforts in national parks located in small and rural communities, bringing much-needed investments and jobs that support the American economy while protecting and preserving our nation’s most cherished places.”