Decarbonize the Parks Initiative Nearly a Year In and Gaining Carbon-Reduced Traction
Jan 06, 2025 07:12AM ● By Content Editor
Photo: Electric trail equipment has been implemented at one park (soon to roll out at the others) based on an idea from a staff member. All photos and images provided by the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation.
By Jennifer Janasie - Boreal Community Media - January 6, 2025
It has been nearly a year since the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation (Foundation) announced its Decarbonize the Parks Initiative, a first-of-its-kind effort that has since been working toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, vehicles, and overall operations in the five national parks along Lake Superior. The parks are located in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin (Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Grand Portage National Monument, Isle Royale National Park, Keweenaw National Historic Park, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore). “Since the project launched in January 2023, the real work…of our project has involved really getting into the trenches and getting into the weeds of changing infrastructure and some priorities within the National Park Service (Park Service),” says Executive Director Tom Irvine. “The project has a base of understanding and a lot of internal support by the Park Service now; it is getting funded and moving forward,” he adds.
With the aid of a contractor who previously worked for the Park Service for over 20 years, great ideas have been generated and then implemented thus far, according to Irvine. Partnering with the Park Service to respond to climate change by transforming its operations is right in line with the government agency’s Green Parks Plan “to advance sustainable operations in national parks across the country,” according to a March 5 press release from the Foundation. The decarbonization strategies, aimed at slowing climate change, are planned to be implemented over several years as the five parks wean off of fossil fuels through energy efficiency improvements and a shift to primarily clean electricity, according to the release.
Brainstorming from Park Service employees has even resulted in ideas for action that have been executed between the completion of larger-scale projects. For example, staff has “made a complete transition at Pictured Rocks, to battery-powered/electric trail and grounds maintenance equipment – a shift from previously used gasoline-powered equipment (this includes mowers, trimmers, and chainsaws), and this has proven to be a massive success,” says Irvine. The new equipment is lighter and results in less injuries because it is safer to operate, and the battery life is much longer; so the change has been a huge hit with the park, according to Irvine. “We will be moving that project into other parks too, and it all came from a seed of an idea from a trail maintenance crew at Pictured Rocks,” he says. “Side projects like these feed into the overall goal of eliminating the use of gasoline and certain carbon sources in the parks,” he adds.
The overall initiative was established to address a concern that the Foundation and its partners had about the distinctive ecosystem of Isle Royale. “We started with Isle Royale, because we felt it was a violation of principle in such a remote area to be hauling all of the needed diesel fuel over Lake Superior,” says Irvine. “It was frightening to think of what might happen (transporting it all over the lake),” he says.” Isle Royale has installed air source heat pumps in staff housing and administrative areas. Each “cold-climate heat pump can reduce energy use by up to 55 percent,” according to the March release. After the initiative started as an Isle Royale-centric project, a very supportive private donor was interested in helping the Foundation scale things up, according to Irvine. “Since we represent all five parks, we needed to step it up, make it all five National Parks, in order to put the Midwest in a leadership role,” he says. As a result, the project is a template for other parks and public lands to follow.
Supporters of and partners for this initiative are a plenty. The Foundation has been working with park superintendents and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe), a co-steward at the Grand Portage National Monument and Isle Royale. The National Park Foundation has been very supportive, both strategically and financially, and the National Parks Conservation Association has been an early adopter, supporter, and partner, according to Irvine. Askov Finlayson, seed investor, is a believer in this project serving as a model for the rest of the country; and the McKnight Foundation has also been a big supporter of the collaboration. In an interesting twist given the current high cost of some other goods, supporter funds have actually gone quite a long way for this initiative. “In the last two years, the prices of air source heat pumps, solar, different renewable energy resources like this, for example, have fallen so dramatically. Projects have moved forward at a fraction of the cost,” says Irvine.
An engineering study for the initiative found that the total funds required to complete the full scope of planned projects will ultimately cost the parks less than what it would cost them to continue operations conducted as they were before this initiative began, according to the project’s January 2023 announcement. Much of the funding is thus set to be made available through the Park Service (from federal resources). Those wondering how they can demonstrate support for this initiative in the coming weeks and months can discover more about the project as a next step. The best thing that the public/visitors to the parks can do to express support is to learn about the details, according to Irvine. “The people that visit these parks are also some of the first to see the impact of the changing climate. The climate on Lake Superior is getting more dramatic. Cultural resources and natural habitats are under a lot of climate-related duress right now. Some of the work that we are doing addresses some of these climate-related impacts,” he says.
By exploring this initiative and the parks themselves, visitors can absorb an incredible benefit. “The parks belong to all of us, and there probably isn’t a better mental health prescription than spending time in nature,” he adds. “The parks are still just a bastion of sanity, that we certainly welcome. Park employees just love being that sanctuary,” Irvine excitedly shares.
Demonstrating visitor support for the initiative itself is just one potential way to continue to reap the rewards of its positive impacts. The project also serves as a template for visitors to potentially follow when they have returned home from their park trips (or even from just an internet surf on the Foundation’s website). “We work with five parks in three states, all of them with differing opinions on climate and energy; but unanimously they are all very supportive of the Park Service and of the National Parks that are within their states,” says Irvine. “We take a very practical approach to doing work that is economical and necessary to future operation of these parks. We think, how do we make these parks run more efficiently, effectively, economically, and even create a model for park visitors to potentially follow?” he says. One highlight for visitors to check out is an illustrated map of the projects in each park (see photo) and how projects can tie back to what visitors can do at home. This can serve as a practical roadmap for doing this type of work beyond the parks, for how to use off-the-shelf proven technologies in homes and businesses, according to Irvine.
The Decarbonize the Parks Initiative is one of the Foundation’s pillar projects, but the organization is also quite active with studies of moose habitat and the declining moose population; it was involved with the moose/wolf predator-prey study at Isle Royale, and has been a co-steward for projects at the Grand Portage National Monument and Isle Royale in partnership with the Grand Portage Band. The organization strives to preserve, protect, and engage with our region’s parks, and it hopes that park visitors will too, according to Irvine.
For additional resources and background information on the initiative, check out the Decarbonize the Parks section of the Foundation’s website at: https://www.nplsf.org/decarbonize-the-parks. There you can download the guide map (above) for the project.
By Jennifer Janasie - Boreal Community Media - January 6, 2025
It has been nearly a year since the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation (Foundation) announced its Decarbonize the Parks Initiative, a first-of-its-kind effort that has since been working toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, vehicles, and overall operations in the five national parks along Lake Superior. The parks are located in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin (Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Grand Portage National Monument, Isle Royale National Park, Keweenaw National Historic Park, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore). “Since the project launched in January 2023, the real work…of our project has involved really getting into the trenches and getting into the weeds of changing infrastructure and some priorities within the National Park Service (Park Service),” says Executive Director Tom Irvine. “The project has a base of understanding and a lot of internal support by the Park Service now; it is getting funded and moving forward,” he adds.
With the aid of a contractor who previously worked for the Park Service for over 20 years, great ideas have been generated and then implemented thus far, according to Irvine. Partnering with the Park Service to respond to climate change by transforming its operations is right in line with the government agency’s Green Parks Plan “to advance sustainable operations in national parks across the country,” according to a March 5 press release from the Foundation. The decarbonization strategies, aimed at slowing climate change, are planned to be implemented over several years as the five parks wean off of fossil fuels through energy efficiency improvements and a shift to primarily clean electricity, according to the release.
Brainstorming from Park Service employees has even resulted in ideas for action that have been executed between the completion of larger-scale projects. For example, staff has “made a complete transition at Pictured Rocks, to battery-powered/electric trail and grounds maintenance equipment – a shift from previously used gasoline-powered equipment (this includes mowers, trimmers, and chainsaws), and this has proven to be a massive success,” says Irvine. The new equipment is lighter and results in less injuries because it is safer to operate, and the battery life is much longer; so the change has been a huge hit with the park, according to Irvine. “We will be moving that project into other parks too, and it all came from a seed of an idea from a trail maintenance crew at Pictured Rocks,” he says. “Side projects like these feed into the overall goal of eliminating the use of gasoline and certain carbon sources in the parks,” he adds.
“Before” image of tanks storing fuel on Isle Royale
The overall initiative was established to address a concern that the Foundation and its partners had about the distinctive ecosystem of Isle Royale. “We started with Isle Royale, because we felt it was a violation of principle in such a remote area to be hauling all of the needed diesel fuel over Lake Superior,” says Irvine. “It was frightening to think of what might happen (transporting it all over the lake),” he says.” Isle Royale has installed air source heat pumps in staff housing and administrative areas. Each “cold-climate heat pump can reduce energy use by up to 55 percent,” according to the March release. After the initiative started as an Isle Royale-centric project, a very supportive private donor was interested in helping the Foundation scale things up, according to Irvine. “Since we represent all five parks, we needed to step it up, make it all five National Parks, in order to put the Midwest in a leadership role,” he says. As a result, the project is a template for other parks and public lands to follow.
Supporters of and partners for this initiative are a plenty. The Foundation has been working with park superintendents and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe), a co-steward at the Grand Portage National Monument and Isle Royale. The National Park Foundation has been very supportive, both strategically and financially, and the National Parks Conservation Association has been an early adopter, supporter, and partner, according to Irvine. Askov Finlayson, seed investor, is a believer in this project serving as a model for the rest of the country; and the McKnight Foundation has also been a big supporter of the collaboration. In an interesting twist given the current high cost of some other goods, supporter funds have actually gone quite a long way for this initiative. “In the last two years, the prices of air source heat pumps, solar, different renewable energy resources like this, for example, have fallen so dramatically. Projects have moved forward at a fraction of the cost,” says Irvine.
An engineering study for the initiative found that the total funds required to complete the full scope of planned projects will ultimately cost the parks less than what it would cost them to continue operations conducted as they were before this initiative began, according to the project’s January 2023 announcement. Much of the funding is thus set to be made available through the Park Service (from federal resources). Those wondering how they can demonstrate support for this initiative in the coming weeks and months can discover more about the project as a next step. The best thing that the public/visitors to the parks can do to express support is to learn about the details, according to Irvine. “The people that visit these parks are also some of the first to see the impact of the changing climate. The climate on Lake Superior is getting more dramatic. Cultural resources and natural habitats are under a lot of climate-related duress right now. Some of the work that we are doing addresses some of these climate-related impacts,” he says.
By exploring this initiative and the parks themselves, visitors can absorb an incredible benefit. “The parks belong to all of us, and there probably isn’t a better mental health prescription than spending time in nature,” he adds. “The parks are still just a bastion of sanity, that we certainly welcome. Park employees just love being that sanctuary,” Irvine excitedly shares.
Demonstrating visitor support for the initiative itself is just one potential way to continue to reap the rewards of its positive impacts. The project also serves as a template for visitors to potentially follow when they have returned home from their park trips (or even from just an internet surf on the Foundation’s website). “We work with five parks in three states, all of them with differing opinions on climate and energy; but unanimously they are all very supportive of the Park Service and of the National Parks that are within their states,” says Irvine. “We take a very practical approach to doing work that is economical and necessary to future operation of these parks. We think, how do we make these parks run more efficiently, effectively, economically, and even create a model for park visitors to potentially follow?” he says. One highlight for visitors to check out is an illustrated map of the projects in each park (see photo) and how projects can tie back to what visitors can do at home. This can serve as a practical roadmap for doing this type of work beyond the parks, for how to use off-the-shelf proven technologies in homes and businesses, according to Irvine.
Decarbonize the Parks Initiative illustrated guide map
The Decarbonize the Parks Initiative is one of the Foundation’s pillar projects, but the organization is also quite active with studies of moose habitat and the declining moose population; it was involved with the moose/wolf predator-prey study at Isle Royale, and has been a co-steward for projects at the Grand Portage National Monument and Isle Royale in partnership with the Grand Portage Band. The organization strives to preserve, protect, and engage with our region’s parks, and it hopes that park visitors will too, according to Irvine.
For additional resources and background information on the initiative, check out the Decarbonize the Parks section of the Foundation’s website at: https://www.nplsf.org/decarbonize-the-parks. There you can download the guide map (above) for the project.
