Daily Inspiration: Meet South Bay Parkland Conservancy

Today we’d like to introduce you to South Bay Parkland Conservancy.

Hi! Can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
The South Bay Parkland Conservancy (SBPC) inspires and empowers communities to protect, tend, and nurture land, water, and life through advocacy, education, and hands-on stewardship. We envision a biodiverse and thriving planet, connecting communities with nature and each other for the well-being of all life, now and for generations to come.

Since 2004, the SBPC has been committed to preserving open spaces and creating more parks in the cities of the South Bay of Los Angeles, California. SBPC staff and board members work with volunteers, residents, local and state governments, and other like-minded organizations in an effort to preserve parkland for today’s generation and for generations to come.

For its first decade, the organization focused on community advocacy and education, supporting environmental priorities like the removal of the AES power plant. A significant shift occurred in 2017 when a new initiative was implemented to enhance native habitat throughout the South Bay. Hopkins Wilderness Park was selected as the first project, which led to a rapid expansion of projects and educational programming.

Our initiatives now include “rewilding” the South Bay, hands-on educational activities, and volunteer engagement, as well as caring for pollinators such as the endangered El Segundo Blue Butterfly. To “rewild” means to introduce animals or plants to their original habitat or to a habitat similar to their natural one; to return the land to a more natural state. You can see our restoration work (and volunteer!) in several locations including Hopkins Wilderness Park, Esplanade Bluffs and the Hermosa Valley Greenbelt.

While most people are familiar with Monarch butterflies, the El Segundo Blue (Euphilotes allyni,) is more elusive. This butterfly is known as a single-brood butterfly, meaning that it only reproduces once a year within a specific time window. And to reproduce, it needs a specific host plant, the sea-cliff buckwheat (Eriogonum parvifolium), which grows on our local sand dunes and cliffs. Historically this butterflies’ range is from the Ballona Wetlands to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The South Bay Parkland Conservancy, in collaboration with the city of Hermosa Beach, have been working to connect the El Segundo Blue habitat on the Hermosa Greenbelt, impacted by development and climate change. By training volunteers to help restore native habitat, we’re planting their host plant and other CA native plants to help bring back this endangered butterfly. In three years of work in Hermosa Beach for example, SBPC hosted over 100 outdoor educational restoration events, logging nearly 3,000 volunteer hours, and planting more than 3,300 native plants along five trail blocks.

We are looking forward to adding additional projects throughout the cities of the South Bay as our organization grows!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Fundraising for volunteer-led nonprofits is always a challenge but we are extremely fortunate to have amazing, active, talented, dedicated volunteers who are passionate about making a difference in our community.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Community connection is a huge part of what we do. Through hands-on learning and restoration activities, the Pollinator Initiative works with students and the public in the South Bay to cultivate ecological understanding and inspire environmental action, creating vital habitats for thriving biodiversity and our food supply. Some of these include seminars/presentations, nature walks, student ambassador programs and more. For example we hold an annual Earth Day celebration open to all, featuring restoration work, a nature walk, a seminar and activities from like minded organizations.

We also opened the first Redondo Beach Community Garden.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Community, including volunteers, residents, local and state governments, and other like-minded organizations are our greatest resource. Collaboration is essential.

For example the South Bay Parkland Conservancy has a book club – participants select the books with themes like nature, the environment and conservation. A few of the books that keep us inspired are Gathering Moss, The Last Child in the Woods and The Overstory.

What truly inspires us to do our best is being immersed in nature with like-minded, energetic and dedicated volunteers who help strengthen and interconnect our community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.southbayparks.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southbayparklandconservancy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southbayparklandconservancy
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-bayparkland-conservancy/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SouthBayParklandConservancy