PHASE II & III

Phase II Actions (2025-2028)

NPL Demo Garden

Action 5: School Demonstration Gardens and Education

  1. A funding structure for a network of school demonstration gardens and educational materials would be developed collaboratively with local school districts and other partners to:
  2. Provide nature and ecological education for school-aged children on native plants, gardening, and conservation goals
  3. Strengthen a sense of place and regional identity rooted in San Diego County's biodiversity

Action 8: Implement Landscape Retrofit Pilot Projects at County Facilities

These pilot projects would follow the Native Plant Landscaping Design Manual and:

  1. Pilot test programmatic and incentive options that will encourage native plant landscaping at private properties in priority locations in the unincorporated area
  2. Identify potential pilot sites within urban and rural underserved communities, wildland urban interface corridors, and high fire-prone areas

Phase III Actions (2027-2028)

NPL Professional

Action 6: Landscape Professional Certification Program

Collaborate with regional partners such as community colleges and/or regional organizations that offer professional training services to develop a certification program to:

  1. Recognize local landscaping professionals trained in native plant landscaping design and maintenance
  2. Develop a list of certified professionals that would be available from the Program website

Action 9: Develop Incentive Program

A San Diego County Native Plant Landscape Incentive Program would be developed to:

  1. Incentivize native plant landscaping for private development in the unincorporated area, such as offering rebates for converting lawns to native vegetation

Action 10: Create Landscape Design Templates

Landscape design templates and a web-based tool for integration into the Program website would be developed to:

  1. Offer residents easy-to-use, tailorable design plans for installing native plant landscaping
  2. Provide templates for landscaping in the defensible space zone in fire-prone areas, along wildlife corridors, and to establish pollinator habitats, among other examples