Key Takeaways<\/p>\r\n\r\n
More parks are coming to LA County, many of them in neighborhoods where more green space is greatly needed. The Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation has begun restoring degraded lands\u2014brownfields, landfills, and oilfields\u2014as future parkland. These former industrial sites are part of the county\u2019s pledge to conserve 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030, what\u2019s known as the 30x30 Initiative.<\/p>\r\n
The county\u2019s 30x30 plan, called the Parks Needs Assessment Plus (PNA+), builds on efforts by the State of California, the Biden administration, and nations around the world. The commitment aims to improve environmental health and biodiversity in this time of rapid habitat loss due to climate change. In LA County, the plan will also address the needs of vulnerable populations, including people who live in places deprived of nature.<\/p>\r\n
To determine which areas should be prioritized for environmental conservation and restoration and regional and rural recreation\u2014using equity as a guide\u2014LA County Parks relies on geographic information system (GIS) technology.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cIn the 30x30 Initiative, the focus is more on traditional conservation which involves protection of additional natural lands,\u201d said Clement Lau, departmental facilities planner with LA County Parks. \u201cAt the county, we\u2019re emphasizing the need for restoring degraded lands, especially in park-poor communities. We\u2019ve developed parks on brownfields before and are working on converting a landfill into a regional park in Puente Hills<\/a>. There are also opportunities to convert oil fields into additional parkland in Baldwin Hills.\u201d<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[608932,608922,608912]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Lau noted that communities of color are overrepresented in areas in need of restoration.<\/p>\r\n \u201cThere\u2019s certainly an environmental justice angle to it,\u201d Lau said. \u201cSupervisor Holly Mitchell referred to our underserved communities as unfinished<\/em>. They\u2019re a work in progress\u2014in need of more attention\u2014to have the infrastructure like parks and recreational services they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n LA County Parks\u2019 planners pioneered an equity-based approach in 2016. Their needs assessment used GIS technology to map existing facilities and identify demand for parks in communities countywide. They found that Los Angeles has the least amount of accessible park space among major US metropolitan areas, with the worst access to parks in communities of color.<\/p>\r\n The analysis of park equity helped fuel the passage of Measure A, a tax on property improvements that now funds park<\/a> improvement and development projects in perpetuity. Measure A mandates that dedicated funding be set aside and allocated to very high and high park need areas.<\/p>\r\n \u201cSince we did the needs assessment, the whole county has been more equity driven,\u201d Lau said. The pioneering work now has a follow-on focus to review the needs of rural communities, look at park needs regionally, and identify priority areas to conserve and restore land for parks and open space.<\/p>\r\n In December 2022, the LA County Board of Supervisors adopted the final report, PNA+<\/a>, that analyzes and maps land conservation, rural recreational needs, and restoration priorities along with transit options to parks.<\/p>\r\n \u201cWe mapped health indicators, access to public transit or personal vehicle, and the combination of those things in the rural north of the county,\u201d Lau said. \u201cThese communities are land rich, but park amenities poor. They are surrounded by open land but do not have the things urban folks take for granted, like swimming pools, splash pads, playgrounds, and ball fields. That analysis gave us a much better understanding of rural recreational needs.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n Melissa Erikson, principal and director of Community Design Services at MIG, the planning firm that LA County Parks contracted with to conduct the GIS analysis, credits the PNA+ report with an expanded view of conservation.<\/p>\r\n Erikson and her team gathered an inventory of parkland in rural parts of the county and conducted proximity analysis to transit stops, driving distances, and biking options.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[608852,610402,608882]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" LA County is divided west to east by the San Gabriel Mountains, contained mostly within the Angeles National Forest. The Santa Monica Mountains mark the northern boundary. And the Mojave Desert begins in the northeastern part of the county. In these northern rural regions, it gets cold in the winter, which limits the distance people are willing to walk or bicycle.<\/p>\r\n \u201cMany people in LA County don\u2019t have cars,\u201d Erikson said. \u201cIf it takes you two and a half hours to get to the beach using public transit, that\u2019s a pretty big burden and barrier to access.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Analysis of anonymized cell phone data was used to see who visits park facilities, regional parks, trails, beaches, and open spaces. \u201cThe snapshot showed that visitors are predominantly wealthy and white,\u201d Erikson said.<\/p>\r\n That\u2019s one of the reasons that remediating degraded lands looks so attractive\u2014to create parks near people of color who disproportionately live near those lands.<\/p>\r\n \u201cLA County wants to address land where people live,\u201d Erikson said. \u201cThat\u2019s smart, because how can someone appreciate the need to conserve some pristine location if they have no connection to nature?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n Considering who<\/em> visits parks changed some of the strategies of the PNA+ report.<\/p>\r\n \u201cOriginally this was just the regional and rural edition of the park needs assessment,\u201d Erikson said. \u201cBut as we started digging into these disconnects, it allowed us to ask, \u2018Why just look at traditional conservation?\u2019 There are some significant improvements that can be made on degraded lands to counter the conditions.\u201d<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[608862,608872]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" LA County has expanded the idea of creating parklands by adopting utility corridors and looking for opportunities to create small parks on vacant land.<\/p>\r\n \u201cTypically, where powerlines are fenced off, they become places where people dump their trash,\u201d Lau said. \u201cWe see those areas as win-win opportunities because if they\u2019re not a park, they\u2019re a nuisance, and a lot of that land is located in areas that lack parks.\u201d<\/p>\r\n The Puente Hills Landfill Park would restore 140 acres, and it would be the first new regional park in over 30 years in the county. That\u2019s because most of the vacant land in the county is owned or in need of clean up.<\/p>\r\n \u201cWe need to figure out the level of remediation needed,\u201d Lau said. \u201cWe\u2019re moving toward a parcel-by-parcel analysis to determine which sites should be prioritized.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \r\n Learn how communities advance racial equity, social justice, and sustainable, inclusive development with GIS<\/a>. Communities follow four steps to Develop an Equity Strategic Plan<\/a>. Equity has become a focus across environment and conservation work<\/a>.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":" In the 2016 Los Angeles County Park Needs report, the GIS data was viewable and downloadable<\/a>. The same is now true for the 2022 Park Needs Assessment Plus<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n \u201cA broad range of users\u2014from cities to academics to environmental- and community-based organizations\u2014want to do their analysis and make maps,\u201d said Clement Lau, departmental facilities planner with the Los Angeles County, Department of Parks and Recreation. \u201cLast time there was a lot of follow-on analysis looking at park needs and the relationship between race, ethnicity, income, and health.\u201d<\/p>\r\n With open data, many groups have started doing the work to carry the latest analysis forward.<\/p>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":608942,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/lacounty.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/webappviewer\/index.html?id=e59d290a63cc4a478c89abcdeb10f67b"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nPioneering an Equity-Based Funding Model<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
Mapping Needs and Vulnerabilities<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
Adopting Degraded Lands for Parks<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
Open Data Allows Anyone to Explore Park Potential<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n