More than 250 visitors toured Ballona Discovery Park on a recent Saturday as part of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants’ annual garden tour. Hosted by LMU Center for Urban Resilience and Friends of Ballona Wetlands, the 2-acre park has been open to the public for 12 years, and is maintained by a partnership between LMU, Playa Vista, and the nonprofit Friends of Ballona Wetlands.
LMU and UCLA students, trained in the background about the park and its assets, participated as docents on April 15, 2023, along with staff of Friends of Ballona Wetlands and LMU CURes, who are responsible for maintaining the plants and other features of the park. View the slideshow of photos.
“The opportunity for us to represent the Theodore Payne Foundation is a wonderful moment for our center, the university, and our extraordinary partners in this venture,” said Eric Strauss, LMU President’s Professor of Biology and executive director of the park. “With the unflagging efforts of a team led by Lisa Fimiani, our students, LMU Marketing and Communications, plus our donors and indigenous leaders such as Robert Dorame, we were able to demonstrate the very best of our garden and the university. I couldn’t be more proud of the effort.”
Dorame, the artist who created the Tongva Monument that stands at the park to honor his Gabrielino Tongva people and all of humanity, brought a gift of a Coast Live Oak tree to be planted at the park.
Visitors also learned about native medicinal plants from healer Enrique Villasenor, co-author of “Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West,” and enjoyed a display of books from the Westchester bookstore The Book Jewel.
The park, with the motto “Neighborhood Wellness Begins Here,” showcases the history of the Ballona Wetlands and watershed, and the native plants that define them. Friends of Ballona Wetlands and LMU professors, organized by the center, lead students of all ages through the park year-round, offer internships and work study opportunities as part of their education programs and research projects, as well as guide local and international visitors.
