As climate change brings more wildfires, floods and heat emergencies, public parks have proven to be essential community infrastructure, yet they are still funded as optional amenities. That has to change.

When the Eaton Fire ravaged Altadena, California, in January 2025, residents were scrambling for shelter and emergency services, while children had no schools or safe places. Nineteen people died and more than 9,000 homes and businesses were destroyed.

The County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation (LA County Parks) became that place. Within days of the fires, the department opened five Care Camp sites that took in more than 2,600 children over the next three weeks. County departments and partners created programming, conducted field trips and served 36,000 meals, while mental health professionals offered support.

Similarly, in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic, parks became some of the only places people could go outside of their homes. The city’s parks and nonprofit parks workers became their own kind of “essential” workers, comforting people, meeting needs and sharing resources. The City Parks Foundation, a nonprofit that provides community-building programs in city parks, saw an opportunity to support New Yorkers’ needs to be in their parks.

Even as COVID-19 stretched major funders thin, the City Parks Foundation led an effort to set up a $3 million grantmaking structure supporting conservancies, grassroots park groups and other community entities stewarding parks. This ensured they could continue operating and paying their expenses when fundraising had virtually ceased.

One of us, Norma, heads LA County Parks; the other, Heather, heads the City Parks Foundation. We write jointly to share an important message: Parks are essential community infrastructure, providing safety, support and connection when other trusted resources are strained or unavailable.

This preparation matters. In September, Los Angeles County faced another stretch of dangerous extreme heat, while New York City experienced a nor’easter with heavy rain, high winds and coastal flooding. We need accessible public spaces and trusted community institutions that can serve people before, during and after emergencies.

We can and should proactively build parks as post-catastrophe resources. Park recreation centers become cooling shelters during dangerous heat. Healthy green spaces mitigate the impacts of heat and poor air quality. Open spaces can feel safe and welcoming to residents who may not trust the government. Park workers and grassroots park leaders can be trusted messengers.

Studies have shown that access to welcoming green spaces can increase physical activity and improve mental well-being year-round by giving people places to move, decompress and connect with others.

Despite all this, parks across our nation are funded as though they are optional amenities. Many municipalities are not considering the true value of parks to their communities. The strongest response involves public agencies, nonprofit partners and philanthropic efforts working together. In Los Angeles County, The Walt Disney Company donated $5 million to help rebuild Charles White Park in Altadena. In New York City, donors supporting the city's network of parks and open spaces gave $15 million through the City Parks Foundation to support their work.

Volunteers are vital. Following the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025, hundreds of people helped restore damaged county parks, planting more than 70 trees and 600 plants. In New York City in 2020, the City Parks Foundation mailed bulbs to residents so they could plant in green spaces close to home. These actions strengthen communities and can inspire private funders to invest.

If we expect parks to remain essential safety nets, we must start investing in them as essential infrastructure. That means sustained government funding, philanthropic investment in the organizations that strengthen them, and thoughtful individual actions like planting trees or making small donations.

We don’t know when and where the next wildfire, flood, heat emergency or pandemic will occur. But during those crises, Americans will turn to these public spaces. The time to strengthen the parks that sustain our communities is now.

_____

Norma E. García-González is the director of the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation. Heather Lubov is the executive director of City Parks Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to invigorating and transforming parks into dynamic, vibrant centers of urban life. This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.

_____

©2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.