Los Angeles, california

Biophilic Cities Partner City Since 2023

The City of Los Angeles has a long history of protecting biodiversity and urban ecosystems.  The city’s Biodiversity Program, established in 2017, is working to increase wildlife connectivity, encourage the use of native plants in public and private landscapes, promote stewardship of natural parks, and leverage partnerships with local non-profits, experts, and universities to advance mutual biodiversity goals and initiatives. The city has developed a special tool called the LA City Biodiversity Index to help assess biodiversity health and initiatives across the city. 

The vision statement of the city’s Biodiversity Program reads: “Los Angeles is a city where all Angelenos value biodiversity, honor and respect nature, and steward the natural world, ensuring that ecosystems are protected, enhanced, and restored, environmental and public health benefits are maximized and equitably shared by all, and that Los Angeles is a resilient, biophilic city for generations to come.”

City Contact: Michelle Barton, Biodiversity Program Manager, LA Sanitation and Environment

local spotlights

• In September 2023, the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles collaboratively published the LA Biodiversity Guidelines.  The document provides guidance to public and private entities on how to best design, construct, and landscape projects so they improve local habitat. These guidelines cover six topics: Habitat, Maintenance, Water, Built Elements, Healthy Soils, and Sustainability.

• The City of LA’s  Urban Nature Guidebook showcases 20 native plant gardens, greenways, natural parks, and wildlife reserves from each of the 15 Council Districts throughout the city. 

• The City of Los Angeles has developed a special tool called the LA City Biodiversity Index. The topics in the index comprehensively assess ecosystem health, threats to biodiversity, connectivity, education, stewardship, and management of special status species. The LA Biodiversity Index Baseline Report presents the first official assessment of the index.  

• Outreach materials, like this What Can You Do to Protect Biodiversity? flyer, have been translated into nine languages.

• The RegenerateLA Training series has been created to provide a lasting resource to city staff and community members interested in healthy soils, native plants, composting, and regenerative landscape management. The full RegenerateLA course is now viewable on LA Sanitation & Environment’s YouTube Channel!

• The City of Los Angeles has released a list of 37 biodiversity indicator species. The list includes vertebrate and invertebrate species that are urban avoider species not typically found in built, urban environments. When these species are present, it generally means that the land possesses a broad suite of habitat and connectivity functions and is of sufficient size to support biodiversity. The city is tracking observations of these indicator species for the LA City Biodiversity Index. Learn more about these species through the Biodiversity Indicator Species Guidebook.

• The city’s Biodiversity Program partners with a variety of experts and with a broad network of stakeholders to monitor and steward local biodiversity. In particular, three teams have been critical to success and building consensus: an Interdepartmental Team, a Biodiversity Expert Council, and a Stakeholder group.

• LA is certified by the National Wildlife Federation as Community Wildlife Habitat.

• The LA City Council is considering a draft Wildlife Ordinance that would create land use regulations to maintain wildlife connectivity in the City.

 MICHELLE BARTON | PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES