For Blackstone, a USD 105m donation to Yellowstone National Park announced this week is about more than just charity.

“I don’t view this as being different from capex dollars,” explained Sean Klimczak, Blackstone’s Global Head of Infrastructure. “I view this as being central to our ability to get projects done.”

Blackstone, the National Park Service, and Blackstone portfolio company Tallgrass announced yesterday that they had established a Conservation and Stewardship Fund to support the park’s operations. The funding will go towards advancing conservation and research, boosting access and visitors’ experiences through infrastructure investments, and expanding opportunities for students and community members to visit the national park.

Klimczak sees the contribution as part of a new reality for developers of large infrastructure projects at a time of widespread public opposition, particularly to data center development.

“We need to raise the bar as an industry from a ‘do no harm’ standard to a ‘net benefit’ standard,” he said. “These communities need to be better off as a result of infrastructure development, not indifferent to the development of this infrastructure.”

Headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado, Tallgrass owns several assets in Wyoming. The company is developing the 1.15 GW Cheyenne Power Hub, which is located in southeast Wyoming. The firm’s Pony Express Pipeline transports crude petroleum from the Guernsey area.

But Klimczak said that the donation is not tied to a particular project.

“The industry has been focused for too long on a quid pro quo development approach. You let me do this, and here is money,” he said. “We’ve got to think about, candidly, bigger dollars, and we’ve got to do things that are not tied to a specific ask.”

Public opposition to data centers has grown in the past year, with developers and sponsors looking for ways to mitigate pushback through community investment. Backers have partnered with local schools and other community organizations, while other developers have promised massive investment including grants to households.

Klimczak said data center owners must do more to combat the negative narrative around the assets, including building more power than the data center uses, minimizing water usage, and bringing significant community benefits.

Klimczak said that Blackstone’s investors have been supportive of the initiative.

“Ultimately, the knock on most infrastructure investors is that they are not doing enough [for communities], not that they are doing too much,” he said.

Yellowstone has an annual operating and project budget exceeding USD 75m, according to the park’s website. The National Park Service will have full authority over park management decisions, the firms said.

The donation comes amid proposed cuts to the National Park Service’s federal funding.

Blackstone’s contribution will establish the Tallgrass WYld Yellowstone Initiative, according to the companies.