Trump Administration Cuts Conservation Research Funding

Trump Administration Cuts Conservation Research Funding

16 of the 22 Land Conservation Cooperative (LCC) research centers in the United States have been placed on indefinite hiatus or been completely dissolved, following budget cuts on behalf of the Trump Administration. $12.5 million in funding was previously approved by Congress, but now the LCC program may not receive any federal funding at all.

LCCs are research centers all over the United States that tackle issues from climate change to flooding to species extinction. As a result of work LCCs have done, a Hawaiian bird species is now listed as “threatened,” Gulf-Coast residents have access to more affordable flood insurance, and California has an aggregated website of research, data, and maps on potential climate change impacts for the state.