2022 Earth Day Soirée

LA’s urban forest is one of our best local-level defenses against extreme heat and climate change. With an estimated 136,000 trees in city parks, 700,000 trees along city streets, and millions of trees on private property, Los Angeles has one of the largest and most diverse urban forests in the world. Los Angeles is also a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot, located within the California Floristic Provence. This designation signifies that the region’s biodiversity is threatened, and innovative strategies are urgently needed to ensure its long-term sustainability.

With the rising threat of climate change, urban tree canopy equity in Los Angeles is more vital than ever. Due to inequitable distribution of trees in historically redlined districts of the city, wealthier LA neighborhoods enjoy vastly larger urban forests and their benefits — from life saving shade and urban heat island reduction, to improved air quality and mental health. LA has a differential of 37% canopy cover in affluent areas to 10% in formerly redlined neighborhoods. Procurement of quality native and climate-ready tree and plants with which to remedy this inequity has been an ongoing issue. Additionally, the need for community engagement and workforce development around tree propagation, planting, maintenance, and care is vital to the health of LA’s existing canopy and the efficacy of new city tree planting initiatives. These challenges point to a need for deeper integration of ecological restoration and climate resilience into city urban forestry programs.

“Growing our tree canopy is a powerful tool in the work of protecting our planet ― bringing cooler temperatures, helping clean our air, and making our communities more beautiful,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “I am proud of the incredible work that nonprofits and our departments are doing to establish the Commonwealth Nursery, which will play an integral role in bringing trees to neighborhoods across Los Angeles.”

About Commonwealth Nursery

At the height of its production in the 1930s, Commonwealth Nursery provided over a million plants and trees annually for City projects, but it has been largely unused as a nursery space since the 1970s. Commonwealth is now at the center of a unique partnership that includes LA Recreation and Parks Department (RAP), LA Parks Foundation, City Plants, the Department of Water and Power, Los Angeles Conservation Corps, the Department of Public Works and others, who are working together to revive this hidden gem. Establishing the site as a nursery once again would provide more resilience for the City’s urban forest, including seeds for future trees and plants on public and private land throughout Los Angeles.

Commonwealth Nursery is a public-private partnership to grow climate and community resilience in Los Angeles. Located on a historic 11-acre site in Griffith Park, the nursery serves as an urban ecological laboratory and training grounds to support LA’s tree canopy equity goals, creating a more livable and resilient city for all Angelenos. Commonwealth is a catalyst to grow trees and plants from locally-sourced seed, train the next generation of urban forest stewards, and grow the green jobs of the future.

Partnership is in our DNA. Commonwealth Nursery brings together a team of leading organizations and experts in the fields of urban ecology, urban forestry, climate resilience, and workforce development, including the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, City Plants, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, LA Conservation Corps, and the LA Parks Foundation, to reinvigorate this historic and critical site.