$50M in funding for marine sanctuaries in a changing climate

The Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act is allocating $50 million in funding to go toward 15 national marine sanctuaries, including two projects near the Bay Area, for education, research and climate change mitigation.

In Monterey, facilities will be upgraded so that they can withstand the effects of climate change while creating careers in sustainability.

Lisa Wooninck, superintendent of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, says, "Seven million will help us co-locate with Cal State University Monterey Bay. This is following a very successful model that we have with other universities where NOAA facilities are co-located with universities so we can take advantage of their infrastructure, the students, the research that we can do. It will be a new building that will be a green building focused on reducing water use, reducing energy and carbon emissions. So just building that type of facility itself will help reduce the impacts of climate change."

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary will also use some of the funding to continue to restore ocean habitats in kelp forests. In San Francisco, Crissy Field facilities will get a facelift and expansion to their ocean climate center as well as preserving the history of the Coast Guard station.

Maria Brown, superintendent of Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries, says, "This will help provide a space in which we can understand why the wildlife stranded has died so we can be more responsive to the causes of death. Also, in our dry lab, we’ll be able to teach our volunteers, our beach watch volunteers what to look for and how to identify sick and dead animals, as well as teaching youth and students how to monitor our sandy beaches and rocky shores to understand the impacts that climate change is having on our oceans in the sanctuary."

Construction on both projects is set to begin in 2024 and is estimated to take a couple of years to complete. In the meantime, the public can visit the center at Crissy Field for education, volunteering and summer programs.

For more information go to www.farallones.noaa.gov.