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

Trump’s EPA Suspends $19M North Richmond Environmental Justice Grant—Again

EPA says it’s proud of axing grants to save money.
With Trump’s War on DEI, Local Environmental Organizations Rethink Diversity Commitments

Some organizations are doubling down on DEI. Others are taking down words that could get them in trouble.
How Trump’s Attack on Environmental Programs Is Already Affecting Local Conservation Work

Grant funding from BIL and IRA, Biden’s signature climate laws, has been frozen. “We’re in a biodiversity meltdown,” says butterfly scientist Stu Weiss. “We don’t have time for these kinds of delays.”
Paddling the Cosumnes River Preserve, a Lush Refuge in the Central Valley

Restoration dollars from the IRA mark the latest chapter in stewardship across the Cosumnes River watershed, where sandhill cranes flock.
What Lies Beneath

Can we keep Lake Tahoe’s aquatic invaders at bay?
Large-Scale Solar Is Coming to Tiger Salamander Country

Even key critics of Aramis, in the North Livermore Valley, say its habitat conservation plan is not terrible.
How Local Conservationists Are Planning for the Trump Era

They’re counting their blessings—like Prop. 4’s $10 billion for climate adaptation in California, and money that can’t be unspent.
What Happens to the ‘Wild Billions’ Under Trump?

David Hayes shaped BIL and IRA, Biden-era funding bills whose big money for nature we’ve been tracking across the greater Bay Area. Here, he takes stock of how they’ve fared—and what might happen to the money that remains.
Scientists Hatch a Big Collab to Aid Pacific Coast

Like a Pacific octopus, this project has a lot of tentacles. It also has very big ambitions.
Raising Hungry Sea Star Babies Is No Cinch

Scientists want to reintroduce these many-armed roombas as a great help for kelp.