AMHERST — The Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center at the University of Massachusetts will shut down at the end of September if the Office of Management and Budget continues to withhold congressionally allocated funds for the coming fiscal year.
Climate Adaptation Science Centers are a national climate research network that connects scientists with natural resource managers to develop ground-breaking research, tools and strategies to adapt to changing climates. Members explore every topic of the natural world, including protection of coastal ecosystems, alterations in forests and water bodies, and movement of invasive species.
The continuing resolution budget for fiscal year 2025 passed by Congress in July allocated level funding for the science centers, even though the proposed White House budget severely cut the umbrella program for the centers, the Ecosystems Mission Area.
However, The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the Trump administration plans to withhold billions of dollars allocated by Congress unless an agency’s spending plan aligns with administrative goals.
“We were just feeling really optimistic for about a month, like we actually get to continue to keep doing our work,” said Bethany Bradley, co-director of the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center. “To have this change last week of OMB basically saying, we’re withholding the purse strings for the money you’re supposed to get, is dunking us in cold water again.”
Without its budget, almost all of which comes from the congressional appropriation, Bradley said the UMass center cannot enter into a new cycle of cooperative agreements with state agencies, nonprofit organizations and conservation groups to continue its work.
Currently, only two of the seven staff members remain at the center, with one leaving at the end of the week, and the remaining person finishing up the final paperwork before the end of the fiscal year.
“We’ll be pushing hard for fiscal year 2026 funds,” Bradley said, “But given that OMB took almost 11 months to release the funds for this year, we’re not feeling super optimistic that those will be coming anytime soon. We’re going to be shutting down.”
Congress proposed to give $69.3 million in funding for the climate science centers, which the Office of Management and Budget now holds. The administration also “reappropriated” $14 million of those funds to other unknown projects.
“What we’ve been told is the law says that an agency can reappropriate up to 10% of [any agency’s] budget in case of emergency,” Bradley said. ” But there’s no emergency here, and the reappropriated amount is actually 23% of the total budget. So we’ve been told that that is also illegal.”
OMB Director Russell Vought is also the architect of Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s plan to reshape government, which includes a goal to eliminate the Ecosystems Mission Area program. As far as Bradley knows, the Ecosystems Mission Area is the only part of the U.S. Geological Survey to have funding withheld.
Experts interviewed by the Post said the OMB traditionally asks for spending plans, but withholding funds allocated by Congress violates the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act.
In the spring, draft and proposed White House budgets cut funding for the Ecosystems Mission Area to $29 million, just 10% of the total for fiscal year 2025. UMass stood to lose funding and resources from these cuts, housing both the Northeast climate science center and the Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, one of the mission area’ 43 collaborative units.
The news stirred an outcry from residents, Bradley said. Floods of calls to congressional representatives encouraged the Senate to level-fund the science centers program, and the House proposed a 5% increase over the previous year.
“We know that people calling Congress really helped last April and May,” Bradley said. “It was actually super important for Congress hearing that we value ecosystems and we don’t want ecosystem science to be totally eliminated from federal budgets. That made a difference in terms of the congressional budget.”
Now, Bradley hopes that once again residents will step up to voice their support for climate science. In a community newsletter, Bradley encourages residents to join the National Wildlife Federation’s rally in support of the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area on Thursday at noon to hear more about the program and avenues of advocacy.
“People have power, and more voices mean that it’s at least elevated in the news and on people’s minds,” she said. “I think that that is just incredibly valuable in terms of trying to persuade more people to say this is something that people care about.”