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For Immediate Release The Los Angeles Parks Foundation, created in 2008 as a California not-for-profit, to enhance, expand, preserve, and promote public recreation, parks, and open space for the diverse people of Los Angeles, has selected Anthony “Tony” Budrovich as its next Executive Director. Mr. Budrovich begins his new role on June 20^th. Mr. Budrovich has had a distinguished career as a non-profit and amusement park executive, most recently spending eight years as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Catalina Island Conservancy, where he oversaw a staff of 110. During his tenure, he increased visitor attendance from 23,500 to 240,000 annually and grew the annual budget from $9.3M in 2015 to $15.6M in 2023. Prior to the Catalina Island Conservancy, Mr. Budrovich was the Deputy Director and Senior Vice President, Operations of the California Science Center. Among his notable achievements, he was responsible for the construction, opening and display of the ($7M) Space Shuttle Endeavor exhibit. Budrovich said, “I am honored and excited to join the distinguished Board of Directors, passionate staff, and financial supporters of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation.  As a person who grew up in LA parks, my love of parks, open spaces and conservation motivates me as the new Executive Director.  Parks are a valued recreational resource to escape and recharge from a busy world.  I look forward to working closely with the community and city to enhance, envision and promote our more than 450 parks.” Budrovich succeeds Carolyn Ramsay, who has served as the Executive Director since 2018. Ramsay succeeded founding Executive Director, Judith Kieffer. Ramsay is retiring and moving to New York City after more than 30 years as an L.A. resident. The Los Angeles Business Journal recently named her its Nonprofit Executive of the Year among Mid-sized Organizations. “I am proud to have served as executive director of the foundation for the past five years, to have raised more than $12.5 million for direct improvements to city parks, to have launched the Park Forest initiative and planted 24 forests in parks throughout the city and to have kept the organization strong through the COVID19 pandemic,” said Executive Director Carolyn Ramsay.  “I am now thrilled to welcome Tony as our next leader and am confident that he will ensure that the organization continues to grow and thrive.” The Los Angeles Parks Foundation enlisted search firm Berkhemer Clayton to find Ramsay’s replacement. Foundation Board Chair David Nickoll said, “We were encouraged by the breadth and depth of the candidates who applied to join our organization. Mr. Budrovich distinguished himself as a strong, experienced leader who can help us increase our fundraising and mentor our talented, young staff. We will miss Carolyn greatly, but we are grateful for her successful tenure as well as her role in helping us find an accomplished successor who will help us grow the organization.” The Los Angeles Parks Foundation was founded by Barry Sanders and has raised over $46M to support L.A. City Parks. Mr. Budrovich is only the third Parks Foundation Executive Director during its existence.

Read more here: https://www.theeastsiderla.com/neighborhoods/boyle_heights/wheeee/article_5e508c9e-daf2-11ed-9e9a-43b9185fb587.html

Los Angeles city officials and park enthusiasts gathered at Griffith Park on Thursday, March 9, for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the purchase and donation of nearly 10 acres to the city — one of the last remaining privately-owned parcels within the park — to preserve as open space for Angelenos to enjoy. A 9.7-acre parcel once owned by Hollywood studio magnate Howard Hughes was purchased by the nonprofit Los Angeles Parks Foundation and donated to the city’s recreation and parks department.

Read more here: https://www.larchmontbuzz.com/featured-stories-larchmont-village/new-griffith-park-forest-dedicated-to-tom-labonge/

Laurel Canyon Dog Park, the oldest off-leash dog park in LA, has received a much needed makeover. This work was made possible by the LA Department of Rec and Parks, the LA Parks Foundation and City National Bank. To find a dog park closest to you, visit LAParks.org/DogParks.

Families are enjoying a new play structure for tots and toddlers that was erected in Pan Pacific Park in place of one destroyed by an arsonist on July 12. The new play structure was installed by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks through a collaboration with the Los Angeles Parks Foundation and Hackman Capital Partners, owner of Television City. Hackman donated $236,000 for the play structure, and the L.A. Parks Foundation helped guide the installation process.

Read more here: https://beverlypress.com/2023/02/pan-pacific-park-playground-rises-from-the-ashes/

LA Parks Foundation and the City of Los Angeles Department of Rec and Parks teamed up to host the Griffith Park Run. This event is held at the historic Griffith Park, where runners decide whether they would like to run the half marathon or the 5k. Proceeds from the event benefit parks all over the city.    

On Saturday, January 7, the Los Angeles Parks Foundation dedicated the new Tom LaBonge Memorial Park Forest, a native plant landscape area atop Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park, in honor of the former City Councilmember, who passed away exactly two years earlier, on January 7, 2021. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project – an installation of 200 native plants and 17 unique species – was attended by a large gathering of LaBonge’s extended family, friends, and co-workers, most of whom hiked the seasonally verdant 1.25-mile trail to the summit location where LaBonge himself hiked almost every day. Read more here: https://www.larchmontbuzz.com/featured-stories-larchmont-village/new-griffith-park-forest-dedicated-to-tom-labonge/

LOS ANGELES — Last month, I wrote about the many microforests around Los Angeles managed by the L.A. Parks Foundation. Last weekend, I visited the group’s offices in Griffith Park, where they have their very own native demonstration garden. The Commonwealth Nursery Garden “not only demonstrates the techniques of native plant gardening but also will hopefully inspire native plant cultivation for parks throughout Los Angeles and beyond,” says L.A. Parks Foundation Executive Director Carolyn Ramsay, who points to sustaining biodiversity and combating climate change.

Read more here: https://www.latimes.com/travel/newsletter/2022-09-15/public-art-los-angeles-walks-the-wild

Back in July, we reported on a fire that seriously damaged a toddler playground at Pan Pacific Park.  At the time, there was no word yet on whether or not the vandalized equipment would be repaired or replaced, but the Buzz learned this week that the LA Parks Foundation has received a donation of $236,000 from Hackman Capital Partners, owners of nearby Television City, to rebuild the damaged playground.

Read more here: Television City Donates Funds to Repair Vandalized Pan Pacific Park Play Area

LOS ANGELES — The LA Parks Foundation received a $236,000 donation to rebuild a playground at Pan Pacific Park which was recently damaged by a fire.

LOS ANGELES — A collaboration of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation and the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Recreation and Parks and funded by The Nature Conservancy and The Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Trust, the Commonwealth Nursery Demonstration Garden was designed using native plants from seeds sourced directly from Griffith Park itself. Read the full article here: Griffith park garden focuses on native SoCal plants

Recent efforts to restore the Barnsdall Art Park’s historic olive grove, which was established in the 1890s, have been successful. The grove is now expanding, with forty new trees being added to the grid. The trees are being included in the city’s Green New Deal, which seeks to plant 90,000 new trees. The new trees are not fruit-bearing species, which are drought tolerant. Watch the full interview here: Barnsdall Art Park’s Historic Olive Grove Restoration Continues

On June 16, Barnsdall Art Park Foundation in partnership with the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and the Department of Cultural Affairs planted 40 olive trees currently missing from the Historic Olive Grove at Barnsdall Park. The planting and a ceremony marked the next phase of an ambitious collaborative effort to restore and sustain Barnsdall Art Park’s historic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed landscape, the cornerstone of which is the grove of olive trees that first gave Olive Hill its name back in the 1890s. Read the full article here: Restoration of Historic Olive Grove at Barnsdall Art Park Takes Root

The Clippers pledged to renovate all Los Angeles area basketball courts in partnership with the Los Angeles Parks Foundation in 2018.

Four years and 350 public basketball courts later, the Clippers fulfilled that vow.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti were on hand to unveil a new basketball court at the Michelle and Barack Obama Sports Center in Los Angeles, the last of 350 Clippers Community Courts refurbished in the city.

Read the full article here: Clippers pledged to renovate Los Angeles' public basketball courts. Four years (and a $10 million donation) later, they've done it.

  Council District 13 along with Parks and Rec joined the Los Angeles Parks Foundation and the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation to plant 40 olive trees. The trees were planted in the historic olive grove, where they will contribute to beautifying the park. Link to original post: Barnsdall Art Park Gets New Olive Trees

In an effort to return Barnsdall Park and its once historic olive grove to its former glory, 40 olive trees were planted Thursday morning, joining the more than 450 like trees already planted in the area. At one time, the olive grove housed more than 1,200 trees, and was used as a commercial orchard, prior to its purchase by Aline Barnsdall, an oil heiress and philanthropist. "We're planting 40 Wilsonii olive trees today to fill in the gaps in the original olive grove that has been here since the 1890s. So this is a spectacular project for us, for the people of Los Angeles, and it's going to just provide so many benefits to Hollywood. We're right in the middle of a very dense urban area and these trees are going to be a benefit for generations to come," said Carolyn Ramsay, the Director of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation.   Read Full Story: City officials plant trees as part of Barnsdall Park olive grove restoration - CBS Los Angeles (cbsnews.com)

In a hidden canyon in the heart of Beverly Hills, just a stone’s throw from where little Ronnie Howard skipped barefoot in the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show, one of L.A.’s oldest existing orange groves has provided 180,000 pounds of free produce to local service organizations since 2010. The Los Angeles Parks Foundation (LAPF) together with Food Forward has begun the seasonal process of harvesting oranges from about 246 trees in the Franklin Canyon Orange Grove, which will then be distributed to the community via local agencies and food banks, including MEND, Mutual Aid Action Los Angeles, Seeds of Hope, Project Angel Food, and North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry. Read more here.

California’s latest climate assessment projects that heatwaves will become more intense, last longer and will happen more frequently in the years ahead. From 1980 to 2000, there were an average of six annual extreme heat days in Los Angeles. By 2050, that number is predicted to increase to 22 days. This is just one of the many reasons the LA Parks Foundation recently launched the Park Forest Initiative. It is aimed at installing micro forests throughout Los Angeles to combat the urban heat island effect, close the climate gap, and grow our urban canopy. At a recent planting at Harbor Regional Park, crews planted 12 trees. Tree Surgeon Supervisor Leon Boroditsky explained how the trees will benefit the space. “We have a large exercise area inside Harbor Regional Park. We would like to bring shade to the people using the equipment. Also, there are walkways that go through. We like to shade the walkways. That’s really important,” Boroditsky said. Carolyn Ramsay, the executive director of the LA Parks Foundation, talked about the long-term goals the organization has for the micro forest program. “We’ve installed eight forests in the first year and our goal is to plant 10 forests a year for the next 10 years. We actually stole the idea from Paris. They launched a micro forest initiative a few years ago, and I read about it and instantly vacuumed up all the information I could get on it. Then, we created and adapted our LA Park Forest Initiative to LA city parks,” Ramsay said. Climate change was the key motivator for the initiative. Read more here.

After undergoing an amazing renovation, the LA Department of Recreation and Parks cut the ribbon on Muscle Beach in Venice. The outdoor/indoor gym has all new equipment and is open to everyone. Link to the original video: Muscle Beach Reopens

Creating a new “microforest,” the Los Angeles Parks Foundation planted 12 24-inch box trees — six Tipuana tipu trees and six Quercus lobata trees — at Devonshire Arleta Park in Pacoima on Tuesday, Dec. 7. The installation was part of the foundation’s Park Forest Initiative, which adds small forests to city parks throughout L.A. to “combat the urban heat island effect, close the climate gap, and grow the urban canopy” according to a statement from the group. Such mini-forests help offset carbon footprints, improve air quality, cool surface temperatures and educate the public about climate change, foundation officials said Tuesday. The foundation has installed seven other micro park forests in the area. The group hopes to plant thousands more new trees citywide, including 10 park forests a year. Read more here.  

With the generous funding and support of Wells Fargo, the Los Angeles Parks Foundation (www.laparksfoundation.org) will be planting twelve 24-inch box tress – six Tipuana tipu trees and six Quercus lobata trees – at LA’s Devonshire Arleta Park in Pacoima (14215 West Devonshire St., Pacoima, CA 91331) on Tuesday, December 7th at 8:30am. The Devonshire Arleta Park Installation is part of the Los Angeles Park Foundation’s Park Forest initiative, which adds micro forests to city parks throughout Los Angeles to combat the urban heat island effect, close the climate gap, and grow the urban canopy. LA Parks Foundation’s Executive Director Carolyn Ramsay conceptualized the micro forests for LA Parks with the hope that it will inspire other cities throughout the U.S.A to take similar action. This activation is incredibly timely given the urgent need to combat the national heat crisis, especially given the disproportionate effects of heat on low-income communities. The Devonshire Arleta Park planting follows on the heels of LA Parks Foundation’s installation of seven other micro park forests at Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights district, Lemon Grove Park in Hollywood, Mar Vista Recreation Center, the Miyiwaki Forest at Bette Davis Picnic Area, Robert Burns Park Forest, 29 Canary Island Pines in Griffith Park, and Ross Snyder Recreation Center in South LA. Read more here.

On Saturday we visited the newest addition to Griffith Park, a native micro-forest at the Bette Davis Picnic area.  While the park just celebrated its 125th anniversary this past weekend, the micro-forest is just three months old and already it’s showing promising signs, according to LA Parks Foundation Executive Director Carolyn Ramsay, whose organization planted the experimental forest using dense planting known as the Miyawaki Method. The practice has proved successful in tropical environments, but this is the first test of native plants in a Mediterranean climate. The planting was funded by the Los Angeles Parks Foundation with a grant from the Hancock Park Garden Club. The Miyawaki Method of afforestation involves using strictly local, indigenous species and planting them very densely, with various layers of vegetation (e.g. understory, shrub, tree, and overstory trees) planted side by side to provide a thick, impenetrable quality over time. The resulting self-managing forest is said to require zero maintenance after two years and will be a treasure for local wildlife, children, students and the landscape design community. Currently, the plants are being watered but the hope is to gradually wean them off any additional irrigation. Read more here.

A rising focus on urban biodiversity sees communities around the world planting native forests in public spaces, uniting people behind the planet’s wellbeing. Bringing nature to urban areas, these mini forests are rewilding cities and providing cooperative places for interaction. Microforests popped up in L.A.’s urban parks in October 2021 as part of the L.A. Park Forest Initiative by the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. Mature trees, including tipa and blue jacaranda, were strategically selected and planted due to their ability to withstand intense, warmer temperatures in the area. These trees are currently providing lush shade in urban neighborhoods, including Lemon Grove Park, Mar Vista Recreation Center, Robert Burns Park, and Ross Snyder Recreation Area. Read more here.  

The Los Angeles Parks Foundation soon will begin work on an improvement project within Robert Burns Park, thanks, in part, to the generous support of a local resident. “We are thrilled to do this project,” said Parks Foundation Executive Director (and Windsor Square resident) Carolyn Ramsay last month as she gave the Chronicle a preview of the project to come. “We just got approval from the Commission last week, so we hope to start work on the project soon,” she explained. In October, the city’s Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners approved the project, which will consist of the refurbishment and renovation of a walking trail around the perimeter of the park. The proposal, valued at $50,000, was accepted as a donation to the city from the Parks Foundation. Project details include the removal of landscape edging around the existing walkway, installation of more than 1,000 linear feet of permanent concrete mow-curb to be flush with the ground, and the installation of a decomposed granite walkway surface material. Read more here.    

How many trees does it take to make a forest? Not as many as you’d think at L.A.'s newest micro forests. On September 30th, 20 trees — including Brisbane box, Tipa, and Blue Jacaranda — were planted in a corner of Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights. These were no little saplings; trees 6 to 7 feet tall were planted to instantly provide a leafy shade canopy in a neighborhood where little shade exists. The L.A. Park Forest Initiative, as it’s called, “was really inspired by the fact that so many of our parks desperately need more trees, especially the ones that are around the urban core of downtown,” said Carolyn Ramsay, executive director of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. Read more here.  

Hollenbeck Park is a beautiful place for people in Boyle Heights to enjoy nature, but it's lost a bunch of its trees to disease lately. In response, L.A. planted 20 Jacaranda, Tipuana Tipu and Brisbane Box trees at the park Thursday in partnership with the nonprofit Los Angeles Parks Foundation. The trees will help alleviate pollution from the neighboring 5 freeway, said Carolyn Ramsay, the foundation's executive director. "We're planting the trees along the freeway side of the park to reduce the pollution and exhaust from all the cars and trucks that go by, but also reduce the noise and provide a habitat for the wildlife that live here," she said. Read more here.  

The Los Angeles Parks Foundation, partnering with Thomas Safran and Associates, dug in on Monday, May 24, to create the region’s fourth Los Angeles Park Forest, this one at the Ross Snyder Recreation Center in South L.A. Read more here.

The City of Los Angeles, Barnsdall Art Park Foundation, and Los Angeles Parks Foundation are excited to announce an ambitious community initiative to restore and sustain the historic olive grove of Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood. Read more here.  

Park advocates helped LAPF lobby the LA City Council to keep our parks well-funded and it worked! One hundred forty park staff positions that were originally cut from the 2021-22 City budget have been restored - and 40 more park positions were added!  Thank you Councilmembers Krekorian, Blumenfield, DeLeon, Price and Rodriguez for supporting our 450 city parks as they reopen this summer. Read more here.

The Franklin Canyon Orange Grove, located in the 90210 zip code just south of the similarly named reservoir and park and just a couple minutes’ drive from the bustling Sunset Strip, is a reminder of what Los Angeles County used to be, said Carolyn Ramsay, executive director of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, which operates the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power-owned grove. Read more here.

A memorial fund has been established by the L.A. Parks Foundation, in the memory of former Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge, city officials announced today. “This special fund will celebrate Tom’s enduring leadership and legacy in the park he visited nearly every day. Plans are underway to establish a memorial site and plant new trees,” in LaBonge’s honor, officials said, “among other park enhancements.” Read more here.

The LA Parks Foundation has begun implementation of its LA Parks Forest initiative with the installation of two mini forests; one at Lemon Grove Park in Hollywood and another at Mar Vista Recreation Center in Mar Vista. “The Park Forest Initiative adds small “forests” to city parks throughout L.A. to offset our carbon footprint, cool surface air temperatures, and educate the public about climate change. Read more here.

Autumn doesn't end on Halloween night, though a glance around might seem to indicate otherwise. But we're still falling for fall, especially since we're only at the season's halfway point. And helping us jump into the proverbial pile of leaves? It's the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, which will host a family-festive Harvest Festival on Sunday, Nov. 10. Read more here.

Breathe in some not-quite-crisp fall air at Griffith Park’s annual fall extravaganza, which has a beer garden for adults, a kids zone for children, and lots of food trucks and live music, including legit Bavarian polka purveyors, Hammerstein Band. The day of fun culminates in an outdoor, after-dark screening of Disney-Pixar’s heartstring tugger, Coco. Read more here.

A pair of Skid Row parks is in the process of receiving a much-needed facelift thanks to efforts by the Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation and the Los Angeles Clippers Foundation. Both Gladys Park and San Julian Park are in the process of a slate of renovations including upgraded permanent bathrooms, improvements to the landscaping, and the inclusion of exercise equipment, new benches, solar-powered charging stations and new water fountains. Gladys Park also received an upgraded basketball court, part of a $10 million citywide effort by the Los Angeles Clippers Foundation to refurbish basketball courts at all of the city’s 350 parks. Read more here.

“This is so far and away the largest corporate donation to the city in many, many years, and certainly to the Rec and Parks Department altogether,” said Judith Kieffer, co-founder, special projects for the L.A. Parks Foundation, which is coordinating the multi-stage projects around the busy schedules at each community center, from Van Nuys to Sunland to South L.A. “And it’s been seamless working with the Clippers,” Kieffer added. “They knew their niche – its basketball, obviously – and we have all the public facilities in the city, so why not? Let’s make a match.” Read more here.

In 2015, the LA Parks Foundation spearheaded a $10.5 million effort to renovate the 26-acres Ferraro Fields soccer complex. This project – funded heavily by the LA84 Foundation and others – resulted in 171,000 youth having access to the soccer fields year-round, an increase from 7,500 from before the project was completed. Read more here.

On her weekly public affairs radio show, on-air host Lisa Foxx profiles the Los Angeles Parks Foundation and talks to Executive Director Carolyn Ramsay about the upcoming Griffith Park Run and everything that makes Los Angeles' city parks so special. Listen to the story here.

As we unwind from a politically-charged year, what is everybody up to this Christmas 2018? Recently, the Los Angeles Parks Foundation announced the awardees of its 9th annual Holiday in the Parks Program, which provided $10,000 to parks throughout the city of Los Angeles to put on special end-of-the-year programs. Nearly 40 recreation centers from every corner of Los Angeles applied for the grant this year. The winning events featured a variety of fun activities, performances and food. Read more here.

After a career in journalism, environmental advocacy and public service, Carolyn Ramsay has found her niche as executive director of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. Her office amidst the oak trees in Griffith Park is a perfect setting for the Windsor Square resident, who has strived to bring greenery to her neighborhood and adopted city since she came here. Read more here.

See how parks are integrated in our daily lives, 365 days of the year. Watch video here.

The SWIM LA program offers low-cost swimming lessons to kids around the city. KTLA tells the story of one young boy who was afraid of the water before his lessons, and now he can't get enough of the pool.  The story is a heartwarming example of the impact of our community initiatives.  Watch the video here.  

We are so proud to have joined Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez and our many partners in dedicating new outdoor fitness equipment in Sunland Park.  This will be a fantastic resource for senior citizens and park visitors of all ages.  See photos and more on Councilwoman Monica Rodriquez's Facebook page.  Read more here.  

Los Angeles Clippers team Chairman Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie, Friday helped open the first of hundreds of planned public basketball courts across Los Angeles to be renovated over the next three years. Roughly 350 courts will be renovated through a $10 million gift to the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. Read more here.

The Los Angeles Parks Foundation announced today that it has joined forces with Airbnb to host a limited number of exclusive events as part of its 10-year anniversary. Two of the City’s Recreation and Park sites, Wattles Mansion and Mt. Hollywood, promise to be engaging and unique for locals and visitors alike heightening enjoyment of these iconic sites. Hosted by LA Parks Foundation, guests can select from multiple dates from April through June to either join hikes in Griffith Park led by former councilmember Tom LaBonge or take a private tour and enjoy tea with a family member of the Wattles Mansion estate in the hills of Hollywood. Read more here.

Leimert Plaza Park – located in the heart of the Crenshaw District – will undergo a series of enhancements this month as part of a partnership with the Office of Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson, city of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, the LA Parks Foundation and City National Bank. The enhancements will include construction and installation of an enclosure around the perimeter; restoration of the central fountain; new grass, flowers and plants, a state-of-the-art irrigation system; and general beautification and clean-up amenities. Read more here.

The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks today unveiled a new, state-of-the-art archery range for the city's archery enthusiasts and future Olympic athletes as L.A. prepares to host the Olympic Games in 2028. The Easton Rancho Park Archery Range underwent an extensive $2 million renovation to replace a smaller, outdated facility with soaring pavilions and four levels of shooting lanes. Read more here.

Parks are an essential part of any great city, and there’s an organization in Los Angeles that is solely focused on enhancing, expanding, preserving, and promoting them. The Los Angeles Parks Foundation has recently had a few major successes recently, which is impressive considering that it only employs three full-time staff members. The foundation recently created four new youth artificial turf soccer fields in Griffith Park that have been wildly popular. It also just completed a major overhaul of the formerly gang-controlled Hazard Park in East LA.  Read more here.

On Saturday, October 31st, the John Ferraro Youth Synthetic Soccer Fields were open to the public. LAPF has partnered with LA84 Foundation on this project which will significantly increase player usage and decrease water consumption. Read more & watch video here.

In an effort to save water and improve the quality of soccer games in Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks is replacing nearly all of its grass soccer fields with synthetic turf.  Read more here.