Climate‑Smart Gardening
Engaging university-trained volunteers to empower and sustain diverse communities with relevant, unbiased, research-based horticulture and environmental stewardship education. Read about Extension Master Gardeners in the news around Washington state.
Cultivating Food Security in a Changing Climate
In 2025, WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardener Volunteers strengthened community food resilience by delivering 38 research‑based classes, demonstrations, and tours that helped 720 residents learn to grow food successfully in a changing climate. A centerpiece of this work was the Veggie Gardening with EASE program, which teaches gardeners to respond to climate pressures by Evaluating their carbon footprint, Adapting to shifting weather patterns, Sustaining soil health, and Enjoying productive, climate‑smart gardens.
Residents learned how warming temperatures, altered precipitation, and changing pest and pollinator activity affect local food production—and gained practical strategies to conserve water, protect soil, extend the growing season, and maintain yields despite climate variability. By helping families understand climate impacts and adopt sustainable, adaptive food‑growing practices, Master Gardeners are empowering Pierce County communities to grow more of their own food and build long‑term resilience.
Throughout this site there are links to documents of various file types. Please contact our Statewide Program Leader if you require this information in a different format.