About 28,000 square feet of vacant land in Larkspur will be transformed into gardens through a $300,000 state grant awarded to a second-grade teacher.
The grant for Dana Swisher, an elementary school teacher in the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District, was announced Thursday at Hall Middle School. The announcement came at the same event where Swisher was named Marin’s “teacher of the year” by John Carroll, the county superintendent of schools.
“This year, as we head into the 2025-26 school year, it’s more important than ever that we continue to do the quality work that we’re doing, so that our communities know that the very important institution of public education is working well,” Carroll said in praising Swisher for the honors.
Swisher, who works at Neil Cummins Elementary School in Corte Madera, said she focuses on creating a “calm and predictable” classroom atmosphere that fosters creativity.
“I think kids need to know where they stand,” she said. “The boundaries are very clear, the expectations are very clear — the day is predictable.”
Swisher, 61, previously won a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant for her work on the Neil Cummins Elementary School garden program. The new grant is from the California Wildlife Conservation Board to the conservation nonprofit Point Blue and Swisher’s nonprofit, Refugia Marin.
The grant calls for an extension of the work Swisher has already done to add native plantings at 9,000 square feet of formerly vacant space at Corte Madera Town Park, she said.
“We saw how much people loved this, and wanted more of it,” she said. “So we got a grant and decided the front of Hall Middle School would be the ideal spot for a habit enhancement project.”
About 12,000 square feet of bare soil in front of the school is being prepared by bulldozers to receive native plantings over the next few weeks. The plants will include manzanita, milkweed, coffeeberry and buckwheat.
“Mostly the plants are going to do all the work of supporting our insects and birds,” Swisher said. “Then the kids are going to come in to see how that is happening.”
Under a partnership with Larkspur, another 16,000 square feet of vacant land will be enhanced as a garden at the new Larkspur Library, Swisher said. The library is under construction across Doherty Drive from Hall Middle School.
Students from Hall Middle School, as well as Redwood High School botany club members, will be invited to various teaching events at the two gardens, Swisher said. A volunteer garden corps organized by Swisher will help with plantings during monthly work days, she said.
“It’s not just a refuge for wildlife, it’s a refuge for human beings too,” she said. “Community members just want to come together and take care of the land and their town.”
Monarch butterfly waystations will be included in the new gardens to aid the endangered species, she said. Plantings also will help moths.
“A lot of people love butterflies, but moths are equally important in our ecosystem because their caterpillars support the baby birds of our local species,” she said.
“Native plants are better for the soil and better for the watershed because they help reduce the amount of contaminants,” she added.
Unrelated to the state grant, Swisher said she is also planning a community vegetable garden with fruit trees at Cove Park in Corte Madera; a wild garden around the Corte Madera Town Park pond; and a garden at Dominican University of California in San Rafael.
Originally Published: August 14, 2025 at 10:57 AM PDT
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