Read our 2025 Year in Review Here

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Read our 2025 Year in Review Here 〰️

HANDS IN THE SOIL, THE LAND NEEDS LABORERS

CULTIVATE BEAUTY + BIODIVERSITY

HYPERLOCAL, CLIMATE-RESILIENT PLANTING

CLOSED LOOPS

DESIGN THROUGH MAINTENANCE 

EXPERIMENTATION IS GOOD, PERMISSION TO FAIL

RESEARCH + LEARN, SHARED KNOWLEDGE

RESTORATION OF RELATIONSHIPS, RESTORATION AS REPAIR

The Elephant Hill Open Space Test Plot in the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA / Spring 2024 Community Workday / Vid: Bryan Taira

TEST PLOT IS A NONPROFIT THAT SUPPORTS
COMMUNITY-LED LANDCARE

We imagine an planet where our parks and open spaces are biodiverse, vibrant ecosystems, where neighbors come together to care for the land and each other.

Learn more

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

β€œSelfishly, I value this as a set time to work directly with the land. It’s healing and infectious. It’s motivating to see a landscape transform and grow week by week through the simple act of repeated care, through a community of dedicated volunteers.”
— Test Plot volunteer
β€œAs a landscape architectural practice, we often focus on the complexities of designing on paper and having everything figured out. However, Test Plot’s approach demonstrates the profound impact of engaging directly with the land. Test Plot’s work is an invaluable partner to Studio-MLA allowing us to experiment with ideas and build lasting relationships. ”
— Megan Horn, Principal, Studio-MLA
β€œFor us we were looking for an outlet to be outside, we love our apartment but it’s tiny so we were looking for people with like values, who are interested in the earth, in planting, in consideration of ecosystems”
— Anthony Martin, Test Plot volunteer
β€œIt’s also about care. Because we’ve bonded to the land here we have more of an investment in the plants and we want them to do well. It requires someone to give their time and you know that’s valuable”
— Dante IΓ±iguez, Test Plot volunteer

DONATE TODAY

When you give this year, please consider adding Test Plot the organizations that you support with a financial gift. As a young and growing non-profit, Test Plot relies on individual donations to:

  • Stabilize finances beyond grant cycles.

  • Allow rapid responses to stewardship needs.

  • Build long-term community investment in Test Plot’s work.

  • Expand our mission to include ecological monitoring, research, education, advocacy, documentation, and long-term plot care.

Please choose from the donation and payment methods below. Whether you can give $5 or $5k, we rely on your gifts to thrive. Every contribution is tax-deductible. We’ll send you a donor receipt letter for your records.

View fullsize As we head into our third year as a nonprofit we're asking for your support. Please consider adding Test Plot to the organizations you give to this year and sharing your enthusiasm for Test Plot with friends and family. ❀️ Donate link is in our bio
View fullsize We need some help moving mulch on Monday at Elephant hill. Pls join! 1st shift 10:30am 2nd shift 1:30pm Bring a mulch shovel, pitchfork, wheelbarrow if you can! Google “elephant hill test plot” for directions
View fullsize It's planting time! Join us at for a lovely afternoon planting and seeding as part of LA WORKS WORLD SOIL WEEK. We'll be expanding this garden which was first planted in March of this year with more plants and wildflower seeds. Sat, December 6th 1-
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View fullsize The 1st of several posts about a jam-packed Dec 5-7th weekend! We have 5 community planting days on deck, so take your pick and join us. Can't wait to see you out there. Sunday Dec 7th 9-1pm: RIO DE LOS ANGELES STATE PARK we have 150-300 babies to
View fullsize Come help us create THE BLOB, our newest plot at Elysian! This Friday Nov. 21st, 3:30-5:30 pm, rain or shine. We'll be weeding and seeding, come dressed to work in the rain, we promise it will be fun 😎. Check out the website for mor info! www.testp
View fullsize Hello, Test Plot's latest zine METRICS FROM THE FIELD: A WORKBOOK FOR LOCAL LAND STEWARDS is now available. Get a copy for you and your friends in Los Angeles at @theodorepayne and @plant_material. In Berkeley head to @oaktownnursery. You can also pu
View fullsize Join Surya, a 12-year-old birder, naturalist and neighbor for monthly birds walks at Rainbow Canyon. 2nd Sundays 8-10am RSVP at QR code For location google maps "Rainbow Canyon Test Plot" #birding #urbanbirding
View fullsize Bay area folks, pls join us for a fun night this Saturday at the Lawrence Hall of Science to learn more about our efforts to transform a hillside into a biocultural living lab. Buy tix, bring a friend, join the fun! 5:45-6:15 — huyyatka: Ohlon
View fullsize “Traveling to Catalina Island, or nearly any of the islands off the coast of Southern California, can be an exercise in time travel. For a resident of the mainland bight, it is a multi-threaded journey. Yes, time goes back, rhythms slow, but ti
View fullsize Parks don’t happen overnight. Read all about our Elephant Hill test plot — and the 20+years of community activism that laid the groundwork for it — in the cover story of the latest issue of FLORA, the publication of the California N
View fullsize Elysian Park's newest plot. Come help us fill this with wildflowers this fall and winter, we'll need all the help we can get. πŸ™πŸ™πŸ™ The 3rd Friday of every month. 3:30-5:30 in the afternoon. See you next time! @terremoto_landscape @elysianparkla
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View fullsize Pando is the largest and heaviest living organism in the world: a clonal colony of 40,000 quaking aspen trees in Utah, all interconnected by a massive underground root system. Pando @pandopopulus is also an educational collaborative that Test Plot ha
View fullsize Hi everyone! We’re back from our summer break and excited to kick off the new season with some weeding, seed collecting, and good company. Come hang out, dig in, and catch up with friends while learning more about native plants. We’ll als
View fullsize Calling all painters, we need your help! The high school students at Youth at Work have been developing concepts for a new mural at the Puente Hills Test Plot on the pedestrian tunnel connecting the plot to the landfill park trailhead. We'll be worki
View fullsize Join us for a “Deep Looking, Listening + Landcare session” at Rainbow 🌈 Canyon. Oct 4th 8-11:30am RSVP on the Test Plot volunteer page. https://www.testplot.info/volunteer πŸ¦…8am guided bird watching πŸ‘‚9-11:30 In addition to land care,
View fullsize Elysian Park Test Plot Work Day This Friday, 9/19 3:30-5:30 pm www.testplot.info for more

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