The NSC Alliance has submitted testimony to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees regarding fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding for programs that curate natural history collections within the Department of the Interior and Smithsonian Institution.
“Scientific collections, and the collections professionals and scientists who make, care for, and study these resources, are a vital component of our nation’s research infrastructure,” argued NSC Alliance. “Preservation of specimens and the strategic growth of these collections are in the best interest of science and the best interest of taxpayers. Existing scientific collections that are properly cared for and accessible are a critical component of the US science infrastructure and are readily integrated into new research on significant questions. ”
NSC Alliance urged appropriators to provide the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution with at least $60 million in FY 2025, with new funding to correct for a lack of adequate increases in recent years, and adequate funding for programs within Interior bureaus that support the preservation and use of scientific collections, “a truly irreplaceable resource.”
Read the testimony submitted to the House. An identical version was sent to the Senate.