Rooted in Resilience: Cultivating a Greener LA Through Native Plants

Green space, park access, and trees

City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Los Angeles urgently needs climate resilience and environmental equity, especially in underserved neighborhoods lacking green infrastructure and facing disproportionate risks from drought, heat, and wildfire. The January 2025 wildfires underscored the need for proactive, community-based solutions. Native plants offer a powerful response—requiring less water, restoring soil, and supporting biodiversity.
Our nursery currently distributes native species to parks and community sites free of charge, eliminating financial barriers for both communities and the Department of Recreation and Parks. To expand this work, LAPF is revitalizing the historic Commonwealth Nursery, originally founded in 1928 and once producing up to 2 million plants annually. This project will help us scale operations toward that legacy—transforming the nursery into a citywide hub for native plant development, ecological restoration, and environmental education, ultimately serving all 500 parks across Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Parks Foundation seeks support from LA2050 to expand our Native Plant Nursery program and lay the foundation for scaling operations into the newly acquired Commonwealth Nursery—a historic site that once produced up to 2 million plants annually for the city’s parks. Our initiative builds climate resilience, fosters environmental education, and restores urban biodiversity by growing and distributing thousands of drought-tolerant, fire-adaptive native plants free of charge to under-resourced parks and community greening projects.
As climate change accelerates extreme weather events like wildfires and drought, native plants have become essential to Los Angeles’ environmental strategy, reducing water use, restoring soil health, and supporting pollinators and native wildlife. With city budgets shrinking, our nursery fills a critical gap by offering both the materials and the education needed to green our city equitably.
This grant will allow us to increase plant production, improve growing infrastructure throughout the year regardless of inclement weather, and expand our educational programming. We will provide direct support to city staff, community partners, and volunteers—offering site consultations, workshops, and planting events that cultivate both plants and environmental stewards. By leveraging the Commonwealth site’s legacy and potential, we aim to scale our impact across all 500 city parks and catalyze community-led climate action citywide.

If our work is successful, Los Angeles County will be greener, cooler, and more resilient—especially in communities that have historically lacked investment in green infrastructure. Public parks, schoolyards, and community spaces will be revitalized with native plants that reduce water use, restore biodiversity, and protect against climate extremes like heat and wildfire.
Through expanded nursery operations and education programs, residents across all 500 city parks will gain access to the tools and knowledge needed to steward their local environment. In the long term, we envision the Commonwealth Nursery returning to its historic role as a citywide hub—producing hundreds of thousands of native plants annually and serving as a living classroom for youth, volunteers, and city staff. This scalable model will help Los Angeles not only meet climate goals outlined in its Green New Deal, but do so in a way that centers equity, sustainability, and community empowerment.