FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pierce College Celebrates Expansion of Botanical Garden with Ceremonial Planting of Australian Pine Thought to be Extinct

Second Phase of S. Mark Taper Foundation Life Science Botanic Garden partially funded by Los Angeles Community College District's Proposition A/AA Bond construction Funds

Dec. 15, 2006 (WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.) -Celebrating the expansion of a botanical garden that serves as both a learning tool and a respite from study and work, Pierce College and Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) officials, along with the Consul-General for the Commonwealth of Australia and other elected officials held a ground breaking ceremony for the second phase of the S. Mark Taper Foundation Life Science Botanic Garden on Dec. 8 on campus. Highlighting the ground breaking was the ceremonial planting of a Wollemi Pine, a rare drought-resistant tree native to Australia, and thought to be long extinct until its discovery in 1994. The pine planted at Pierce College's botanical garden is the first Wollemi at a community college and one of the few planted in the United States.

"I predict this botanical garden will become a place where people come and discover what this college really has to offer," said Mona Field, member of the LACCD Board of Trustees.  "For Pierce to have a continuation of a project that makes such a difference in the lives of our students and community is just fabulous."

Also speaking at the ceremony were Mr. Innes Willox, the Australian Consul-General for Los Angeles, Nancy Pearlman, member of the District’s Board of Trustees, Robert Garber, president of Pierce College, Darroch “Rocky” Young, LACCD Chancellor and a former president of Pierce, and Professor James Rikel, chair of the Life Sciences department at Pierce College.

The ceremonial planting included a “handover” of the rare pine by Mr. Willox to two Pierce Life Sciences professors, Kate Kubach, and Pat Farris.  They placed the pine in a barrel, and VIPs heaped soil on the symbol of what Mr. Willox called the “hardy and sturdy spirit of Australia.”

The second phase of the S. Mark Taper Foundation Life Science Botanic Garden at Pierce College will include an array of Mediterranean plants, including Australian and South African-native shrubs.  The Garden demonstrates sustainable drought-resistant plants, including many from Southern Californian.  The full botanical garden area is approximately 80,300 sq. ft., or about two acres.

Pierce College's Botanical Garden project was funded in part by the Proposition A/AA Bond Program, which is providing more than $2.2 billion for new construction and renovation projects at the LACCD's nine colleges, and a $75,000 grant from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California which helped kick start the 2nd phase of construction for the botanical garden. The first phase of the botanical garden was made possible in part with a grant from the S. Mark Taper Foundation.

The Los Angeles Community College District’s construction and modernization projects receive funding from Propositions A/AA, two bond measures overwhelmingly approved by Los Angeles voters in 2001 and 2003.  Propositions A/AA are providing more than $2.2 billion for new construction and renovations at LACCD's nine colleges.  For more information, visit www.PropositionA.org.

High resolution photo available upon request.

Picture from left to right: LACCD Trustee Mona Field, Honorable Julia Brownley, LACCD Chancellor Darroch F. Young, LACCD Trustee Nancy Pearlman, Pierce College President Robert Garber, Professor Dr. James Rikel and Consul-General for the Commonwealth of Australia - Los Angeles Mr. Innes Willox.

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