Wild Billions: Bay Nature's Reporting on BIL and IRA

The Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provide billions of dollars for nature.

How is that changing the Bay Area?

And how do we know if it’s money well spent?

Bay Nature launched a reporting project called Wild Billions in 2023 to examine the impacts of this huge infusion of money—and the obstacles to keeping the big promises that came with it.

Dive into our data visualizations

Our map of funded projects

We’re tracking what nature projects have been funded so far in our area—like an experimental kelp-forest restoration, major upgrades to the Presidio, and a battle against Tahoe invasives. (Help us add projects if you know of them!)

Spending programs

We combed through hundreds of the funding programs Congress made in BIL and IRA, and found at least $106 billion for nature. What will the Bay Area get? See nature-related spending programs in our data viz.

How can I get some ‘Wild Billions’?

Applying for federal grants isn’t easy, especially for local governments and community groups. If you’ve got a worthy nature-related project—we’ve got some tips to get you started, and a searchable table of spending programs.

Send us a tip

President Donald Trump has begun making his mark on the federal government’s environmental work and policies, including BIL and IRA. If your environment-related work inside or outside the government is being affected, we’d like to hear how. Email wildbillions@baynature.org or contact one of our staff on Signal, an app for encrypted messaging and calls:

Tanvi Dutta Gupta, senior reporting fellow: colugo_68.21

Kate Golden, senior editor: cormorant.50

Victoria Schlesinger, editor in chief: VicSch.99

If you have sensitive information or are not authorized to speak with media, please take appropriate care to avoid leaving electronic tracks (here’s a Freedom of the Press Foundation guide). Anonymous tips are welcome, and documents can be mailed from public mailboxes to our office at 1328 6th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710.

Stories in this project

Unburned: An Investigation

To protect the Plumas National Forest and its communities from the next megafire, the Forest Service plans to burn it—intentionally. Can $274 million do the job?
What Lies Beneath

Can we keep Lake Tahoe’s aquatic invaders at bay?
In the Name of Eelgrass

To protect the eelgrass meadows in San Francisco’s Richardson Bay, the anchor-out era near Sausalito is coming to a close.
A Last Best Hope for Coho in the Russian River

Now equipped with $8.4 million in federal money, conservationists are aiming to bring back the watershed’s salmonids
Scientists Try a ‘Field of Dreams’ Approach to Restoring California’s Bull Kelp Forests

Can scientists defeat vast armies of sea urchins and re-kelp California’s North Coast? A Wild Billions story.
Historic Money for Bay Area Nature Has Started to Flow. The Challenge? Spending it.

Meet BIL and IRA—two federal bills with forgettable names that belie their enormous potential impact on the environment.