Gene Block Chancellor | University Of California, Los Angeles
Gene Block Chancellor | University Of California, Los Angeles
UCLA has become the first university in California to achieve Green Grounds Certification, awarded by Re:wild Your Campus, a nonprofit organization. This certification acknowledges UCLA's commitment to improving human health and biodiversity by adopting sustainable landscape practices that exclude pesticide use.
Re:wild Your Campus, founded by UC Berkeley students in 2017, aims for schools to adopt organic grounds management by 2030. At UCLA, over 90% of campus landscapes are managed sustainably, emphasizing ecologically friendly methods.
The university received gold-level certification due to its efforts in transitioning turf areas to drought-tolerant plants and recent initiatives focusing on native plant species. More than 30,000 square feet of turf have been replaced with California native plants.
Nurit Katz, UCLA’s chief sustainability officer, highlighted the significance of this achievement: “This certification reflects the hard work of so many at UCLA, especially our grounds staff from Facilities Management and the Landscape and Ecology Task Force.”
The student-led Sustainability Action Research program at UCLA contributed to these efforts through studies comparing soil health under different fertilization methods. The Gabrielino-Tongva tribe provided input for the campus landscape plan as part of a formal agreement signed in 2022.
Facilities Management groundskeepers participated in a specialized training program facilitated by the Theodore Payne Foundation. This initiative supports water conservation and addresses statewide drought impacts.
UCLA is also part of the global Nature Positive Universities alliance focused on ecosystem preservation and biodiversity enhancement. Sheina Crystal from Re:wild Your Campus noted the importance of UCLA's pesticide-free approach: “With pesticide manufacturers facing ongoing lawsuits for the human health impacts of their products, UCLA’s commitment...is significant.”
Los Angeles is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot with over 4,000 distinct species; thus eliminating harmful chemicals is crucial. Re:wild Your Campus has been instrumental since its inception in advocating for sustainable land care within the University of California system.
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