From Lawn to Learning Landscape: La Tercera’s Water-Wise Schoolyard

Lawn Conversion to Climate-Appropriate Landscaping

In Petaluma, La Tercera Elementary School (La Tercera)’s recent schoolyard transformation shows how institutions are actively stepping up to preserve groundwater. Prior to the schoolyard transformation, La Tercera’s campus featured several large irrigated lawn areas woven between concrete walkways. In addition to the high water demand required to keep the lawn healthy, the uneven terrain made maintenance challenging. Staff had to carefully maneuver lawn mowers around the surrounding concrete edges, increasing time and effort. Maintenance became even more complicated during the school year, as staff needed to prevent students from walking across the lawns while equipment was in use—creating both logistical and safety challenges.

In the summer of 2024, the school decided to partner with Daily Acts to convert the lawn areas into climate-appropriate landscaping. Daily Acts, with support from the Conservation Corps North Bay, supplied the labor to remove the lawn, hand dig rain gardens, and install drip irrigation for the new plants.

Leading by Example

Overall, 10,625 square feet of lawn was converted, reducing the school’s water demand from roughly 302,000 gallons per year to 34,000 gallons per year, which is an 88% reduction in demand. In addition, rain tanks were installed to collect rainwater for hand-watering, with capacity to hold up to 8,000 gallons of rainwater. Additionally, mulch was laid to encourage better soil health and help retain more moisture for the new plants in the rain gardens. These improvements are estimated to help recharge 4,215 gallons per year to the Petaluma Valley Groundwater Basin. Using on-site flow meters, the school is able to actively monitor and verify its water savings, turning conservation goals into measurable results.

Student Community-Led Design and Planting

The campus community played an important role in shaping the project, with students, staff, and parents all providing design guidance throughout the initial stages of the project. Design discussions were held at a PTA meeting, during staff meetings, and through lessons with different grade levels. The new schoolyard reflects those design discussions, weaving water conservation education and stewardship into the landscaping. Students got to play a hands-on role in helping to install the new plants in the schoolyard as well as designing and painting art on each of the rain tanks.

The design of the schoolyard itself mirrors a riparian zone, beginning at the transitional kindergarten (TK) and kindergarten classrooms where a rain garden is fed by overflow from the rain tank. When the garden reaches its holding capacity, it overflows into the storm drain to return to the local creek systems. The captured water in the tanks can be used to hand-water plants in spring and fall. Teachers use the garden as part of the curriculum, helping the students get interactive conservation education while learning about the local water systems. Old tree stumps were used to create an outdoor classroom.

Since La Tercera is a Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) school, the campus community wanted to actively participate in collaborative local conservation efforts to demonstrate the value of a conservation mindset to students and help prepare them to be future environmental stewards. The integration of the campus community into the design process and installation helped to ensure that the conversion was successful and well-supported by all involved.

Advice and Resources

Though the project was a success, it took some time to adjust to the initial transition from lawn to drought-tolerant landscaping. Principal Catherine Larkin advised that patience was key and that results are not immediate as it takes plants some time to establish themselves. The reward is a beautiful climate-appropriate landscape featuring native plants that reduces groundwater demand, increases local recharge, and supports conservation lessons for the students.

The project utilized support from several local programs to help fund and procure materials for the project. Daily Acts’ Land Resilience Partnership (dailyacts.org/lrp), a California Department of Water Resources funded drought-resilience program supporting small-scale projects including turf conversions, provided much of the funding for the project, reducing the cost burden on La Tercera school administrative budget. The City of Petaluma’s Mulch Madness program (cityofpetaluma.org/mulch-madness) covered the cost of the mulch that was laid as part of the project. Those outside the City of Petaluma can visit wellawaretoolkit.org to see similar resources that are offered throughout Sonoma County in addition to access to Qualified Water Efficient Landscape (QWEL) professionals, planning and technical assistance, and maintenance manuals. Additional resources for those looking to convert their lawns to drought-tolerant landscaping can be found through the California Water Efficiency Partnership’s (CalWEP) Nonfunctional Turf toolkit (nonfunctionalturfca.org).