Kate Uyemura
February 18th, 2026
(Credit: Getty Images)
On a rainy day in Isla Vista, UCSB’s college town, the parks sit empty. This is rare.
Usually, they are crowded with students pouring over essays, hanging out with friends, or simply
relaxing– but not today. Residents you would normally see taking advantage of the green space
hurry into homes to get out of the rain, leaving empty swaths of lawn behind.
Only without all of the people can you get a sense of how far these lawns reach. Among
the parked cars and public art of IV’s residential neighborhoods sit 25 parks.
1 That’s an
1 Kimberly Kiefer in an interview with the author, February 2026.
estimated 55 acres– enough to fill about 42 American football fields.
2 There’s Anisq’Oyo Park,
equipped with an amphitheater in the heart of IV, where a grassy slope is used by students
listening to concerts.
3 In Children’s Park, littered with picnic tables, the green fields serve as
running grounds for children.
4 It’s certainly no easy task to take care of it all.
But the responsibility must fall to someone. However, that “someone” isn’t a single
person– it’s the many faces of the IV Parks and Rec District. The twenty-person staff (including
a five-person board, recreation leaders, and grounds workers) all contribute towards the
organization’s greater mission. A big part of this is “enhancing, improving, and protecting the
quality of life in the community”, which includes for people and nature both.
5
Those are easy ideals to get behind in theory. But when it comes down to the day-to-day
decisions of managing that much land and the needs of 15 thousand IV residents, the work is
never quite complete. A key part of that everlasting project is Kimberly Kiefer, the General
Manager of IV Parks & Rec.
Through years of park experience in Los Padres National Forest to Yosemite to Golden
Gate National Parks, the only thing more impressive than Kiefer’s resume is her excitement
when it comes to serving the community. “I have the best job in the world,” she told me when I
asked her what her days were like.
6 Her dedication is infectious. Through her eyes, I see the
merit of focusing on more small-scale groundwork within the community instead of globally.
6 Kimberly Kiefer in interview with the author, February 2026.
5 “Mission Statement” – Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District, October 7, 2024,
https://ivparks.org/about-ivrpd/ivrpd-mission-statement/.
4 “Children’s Park” – Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District, August 24, 2024,
https://ivparks.org/isla-vista-district-parks/neighborhood-parks/childrens-park/.
3 “Anisq’Oyo’ Park – Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District,” Anisq’Oyo’ Park , August 23, 2024,
https://ivparks.org/isla-vista-district-parks/central-downtown-parks/anisqoyo-park/.
2 Michael Simon, “How Many Acres Is a Football Field?,” SHOC, November 10, 2025,
https://shoc.com/blogs/trivia/how-many-acres-is-a-football-field-math?srsltid=AfmBOopUs01En_vGd
MtPZ1FrCzA5-gtYKUXS2YvPCi1n2BS9rIikDHR2.
Kimberly Kiefer, General Manager of IV Parks & Rec
(Credit: Rebecca Caraway / Noozhawk photo)
For her, IV is a place that needs parks. “So much of IV is nightlife”, she explained, saying
that parks were an opportunity for social functions outside of a party on DP. Accessibility is
innate, as one of the few places “where a diversity of people can meet one another.” In urban
places where yards are not a given, she says parks “are really a mental health need.”
7
But the costs are many. A big factor is financial, from staff to maintenance to insurance.
(Who knew parks needed insurance?) Another is the labor costs of planning and maintaining.
8
But one of the most glaring is the environmental costs. Across the United States, we use up 1
billion gallons of water on maintaining the neatly manicured, invasive plants in our front yards
and in our parks. Not fruit-bearing trees that provide food, or blooming flowers, but grass–
often an invasive species that looks pretty but requires high maintenance.
9
9 “The Devastating Environmental Cost of Traditional Lawns,” Piedmont Environmental Alliance,
February 7, 2024, https://www.peanc.org/devastating-environmental-cost-traditional-lawns.
8 Kimberly Kiefer in interview with the author, February 2026.
7Kimberly Kiefer in interview with the author, February 2026.
Andrew Lee, Hannah Jordan, and Jason Horsley, “Value of Urban Green Spaces in Promoting Healthy
Living and Wellbeing: Prospects for Planning,” Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, August 2015,
131, https://doi.org/10.2147/rmhp.s61654.
How do we reconcile these two “opposing” ideas: parks are a need, but parks are costly
and environmentally harmful? The answer may lie in IV Park & Rec’s latest completed project.
Previously a volleyball court, then an overgrown abandoned lot, Pardall Gardens has
transformed into a study space with tables, baby trees, and the oddest thing– no lawn. “The
place wasn’t irrigated to begin with”, Kiefer explains, “so it was a conscious decision not to
install anything”. Instead, the place is littered around the edges with native plants like California
poppies that will encourage pollinators to gather.
10 “A nature corridor” as Kiefer calls it with a
smile. Instead of a shade structure that deteriorates, saplings will eventually grow to provide
natural shade that “lasts a lifetime.”
11 It’s a model for what shared spaces might look like going
forward. Not only does the lack of man-made shade and lawns support sustainability, they also
save money.
A picture of the newly-renovated Pardall Gardens
(Credit: Rebecca Caraway / Noozhawk photo)
11 Kimberly Kiefer in interview with the author, February 2026.
10 Stephen Knutson, “How California Poppies Encourage Bee Activity,” Stover Seed, February 11, 2026,
https://www.stoverseed.com/how-california-poppies-encourage-bee-activity/.
But this has not emerged from a vacuum. It required grants, support from the local
community, and from the hard work of everyone involved. Without those who champion these
ideas, it becomes virtually impossible.
UCSB student Ella Graban knows just how difficult it can be to convince people to turn
thoughts into action. Fresh off a semester of study abroad, Graban welcomes the challenge of
being chair for Environmental Justice Alliance– a school club that hopes to spread
environmental awareness and incite action. She has high hopes and an even higher ambition for
the world she wants to make: “There’s just so much I want to do,” she told me. But it’s an uphill
battle. “People are busy,” she says, speaking about how reaching out to the public often yields
few responses.
12 The game becomes education, especially speaking to those in your circle about
things that matter to you. It may be uncomfortable, but it’s necessary– if people understand why
you care, they’ll be more willing to support your cause.
Another way forward is collaboration with those who are already incentivized to act.
Graban’s club works with those obviously environmentally friendly, such as Surfrider or
Environmental Affairs Board, but also those who you might not think of, like Science
Communication or Democratic Socialists of America. In order to stay productive, groups must
communicate and come upon a shared vision. Kimberly Kiefer agrees on this front. Her
organization often works with the Bren School, which is policy-minded and ideas-based
compared to her “tangible on-the-ground impact”. In this case, it is important to ask everyone:
“How do great ideas lead into actual action?”
Lawns are no exception. If you agree that public parks are irreplaceable spaces that allow
wellbeing and diverse connections, but that there is a more sustainable way to achieve those
goals (in projects like Pardall Gardens), talking about it with anyone is the first step. From that
support, we might just build parks that future generations can sit, study, and relax on– just as
we get to now.
12 Ella Graban in interview with the author, February 2026.
SOURCES
“Anisq’Oyo’ Park” – Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District, August 23, 2024.
https://ivparks.org/isla-vista-district-parks/central-downtown-parks/anisqoyo-park/.
“Children’s Park” – Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District, August 24, 2024.
https://ivparks.org/isla-vista-district-parks/neighborhood-parks/childrens-park/.
“The Devastating Environmental Cost of Traditional Lawns.” Piedmont Environmental
Alliance, February 7, 2024.
https://www.peanc.org/devastating-environmental-cost-traditional-lawns.
Knutson, Stephen. “How California Poppies Encourage Bee Activity.” Stover Seed,
February 11, 2026.
https://www.stoverseed.com/how-california-poppies-encourage-bee-activity/.
Lee, Andrew, Hannah Jordan, and Jason Horsley. “Value of Urban Green Spaces in
Promoting Healthy Living and Wellbeing: Prospects for Planning.” Risk Management and
Healthcare Policy, August 2015, 131. https://doi.org/10.2147/rmhp.s61654.
“Mission Statement” – Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District, October 7, 2024.
https://ivparks.org/about-ivrpd/ivrpd-mission-statement/.
Simon, Michael. “How Many Acres Is a Football Field?” SHOC, November 10, 2025.
https://shoc.com/blogs/trivia/how-many-acres-is-a-football-field-math?srsltid=AfmBOo
pUs01En_vGdMtPZ1FrCzA5-gtYKUXS2YvPCi1n2BS9rIikDHR2
Last modified: June 23, 2026
