In the News

Conservation works. In the past century or so, efforts to save American species like the peregrine falcon, the American bison, and the Pacific gray whale have succeeded.

A naturalist studying the Gottlieb Native Garden, a single acre in Beverly Hills, California, documented over 1,400 species in the past five years, from cougars and ospreys to varieties of bark lice previously unknown to science.

Daniel Gottlieb chuckles thinking back to when he first showed his bride-to-be the house in the late 1980s. She looked at the back said, “It’s all covered with ivy. There’s nothing for the birds.”

By popular convention, we often use biologically arbitrary boundaries for native plants. For example, gardeners in California see plants labeled as “California native” and may assume these are well-suited for their landscape. However, consider the breadth of botanical and biome or ecosystem diversity in that state, which further spills over the borders. Using geographic areas defined by flora species, like the California Floristic Province (CFP), to help define native plants is an improved alternative approach but still not the silver bullet.

Exploring biodiversity in gardens seems simple at first glance. Many of us define it in relatively simple terms—how many species of plants? Birds? Insects? Our gardens are relatively small ecosystems, but if we consider the possible number of interactions in even a small urban garden, it is immediately evident that biodiversity is almost unimaginably complex. Why does biodiversity matter, and how is it measured? Here I connect with three scientists in our region to talk about their work on biodiversity.

The drought is changing California’s landscape in some unexpected ways. Not only is it drying up lakes, turning streams to a trickle and causing the land to sink, it’s weaning Californians off lush, water-guzzling lawns.

Amid the weedy vacant lots, tired storefronts and roughened asphalt of Compton, crows and pigeons thrive. But, if residents think these often derided city birds are the beginning and end of urban avian life, they need only venture to nearby Earvin “Magic” Johnson Park in unincorporated Willowbrook.

Southern California beaches serve as highly-prized recreation space for local communities and tourists. Los Angeles County beaches are visited by 50 million people annually, putting continual pressure on sandy beach habitat that historically served wildlife populations.

Los Angeles Audubon Society would like to thank Susan and Daniel Gottlieb for their major contribution in support of the Snowy Plover Program, helping Los Angeles Audubon to continue to monitor and protect this threatened species

Join us and visit two horticultural stars of Los Angeles: The Gottlieb Native Garden in Beverly Hills and the nearby Getty Center. Traveling by private motor coach, we will first visit The Gottlieb Native Garden, home to more than 200 hand-selected native plant species and nearly 400 documented wildlife species.

What defines a native plant? This is a contentious subject. Some botanists and biologists believe that once a species has been in North America long enough it effectively becomes native.