Black Market Botany at Los Angeles County Arboretum:
Thievery, Neglect, Omertà, Cronyism, Incompetence

Chris Spencer

The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, a 127-acre botanical oasis in Arcadia, California, is an outstanding blend of aesthetics, preservation, and learning. Its meticulously created plant collections, with representatives from around the globe, attract thousands of people annually. But beneath its tranquil surface, the institution is battling a quiet, little-appreciated issue: a double danger of plant thievery, both from external poachers and, more chillingly, maybe even from inside. Dr. Mark Wourms of Berheim Arboretum was emailed this article and invited to comment, as of this date he has made no reply.

The very employees safeguarding these precious plants are sometimes involved in their demise through apathy or upset behavior. The record of the Arboretum is one of neglected responsibility, exploited trust, and systemic failure to respond to internal vulnerability. This not only undermines the Arboretum's mission of preservation and education but also erodes the public's trust in the institution.

In a grim twist, the Los Angeles County Arboretum, once a garden of international fame for its collection of rare and endangered plant specimens, has been tainted by scandal. Dr. Mark Wourms, a former director of the Arboretum, came into the spotlight when Arcadia Tribune (Thompson Papers) exposed a series of financial malpractices. The three reports of unaccounted for funds confirmed that the Arboretum had suffered massive financial losses during the time of Wourms.

The initial article stated $1.5 million cash discrepancies in financial records, the second article added the problem with another $4.5 million unaccounted for, and the third article, which was released shortly thereafter, stated a staggering $6 million cash unaccounted for. Despite these outrageous charges and apparent mismanagement of Arboretum funds, Wourms treated himself to a high-profile position at the Bernheim Arboretum. This rich appointment raised eyebrows across the horticultural industry.

The Double-Edged Sword: External and Internal Threats to Plant Security
Plants have been pilfered from botanical gardens for centuries, but pilfering has grown more sophisticated and extensive. It has become a global issue outside threats, particularly the illicit plant trade. Uncommon plants, desired due to their scarcity and unusual genetics, find their way into private collections with minimal regard for the environmental or legal consequences. 

Though much attention has been paid to institutions like The Huntington Botanical Gardens, this issue far exceeds those of these renowned locales. Ecologically and economically, high-value plants are in high demand among thieves who can organize with the black-market need for unusual horticultural material in the Los Angeles County Arboretum.

Secondly, modern technology has made it easier for thieves to get precise information on high-value plants. With cell phones and internet plant forums, an individual or group can choose plants of preference, knowing how much they are appreciated and what they cost. Sadly, even protected botanical gardens like the Arboretum cannot avoid these intrusions. Although there are sporadic news reports about the theft of exotic animals, the bigger truth is one of continuing, undocumented losses, implying that such thefts are more common than people think.

However, while external poachers are one type of danger, the danger of internal pilferage is equally significant, if not bigger. When describing institutional vulnerability, one forgets about the people nearest the collection—people who care for it daily. Domestic plant theft for the Arboretum may not always have the same grand narrative as foreign poaching but can be equally devastating. People who know the Arboretum's collections, security protocols, and daily routines are best placed to exploit such loopholes.

Disgruntled employees, perhaps frustrated by decades of abuse or lack of respect, might be inclined to steal plants as a sign of passive rebellion. Others justify their actions as taking back value for their labor or as revenge for perceived workplace injustices. Even without deliberate malice, there is a hidden danger: the working environment can become a precursor where negligence or inadequate supervision leads to systematically eradicating value plant species. As these workers will have motor vehicle access, machinery, and close familiarity with plant locations, they are easily overlooked, mainly if there is a lenient spirit among bosses.

The Culture of Neglect: Inadequate Management and Failures in Oversight
Compounding the problem is the lack of effective management systems. A succession of administrative problems has long plagued the Los Angeles County Arboretum. Its management systems, designed to ensure the security of valuable collections and the safety of employees, have been inadequate. Inadequate internal controls and routine employee training programs erode accountability. In a setting where trust is meant to be paramount, there is an astonishing amount of tolerance for security breaches. It's a case of under-monitored surveillance systems and institutional apathy.

The Arboretum's utilization of seasonal and temporary personnel to maintain the landscape and care for plant collections is another source of exposure. Seasonal workers, with less involvement in the institution in the long term, will be less inclined to feel that they must maintain the high moral standards of working there. The workers will also not be adequately trained in the proper care and value of single plants; thus, their destruction or removal can be accidental. More overt than theft, such neglect still detracts from the institution's long-term preservation and education goals.

The accountability issue at the Arboretum became even more acute amid financial scandals under Dr. Mark Wourms' tenure. The three investigative articles written by the Arcadia Tribune regarding unaccounted money created serious questions about the integrity of the Arboretum administration. The first report of the unaccounted for cash $1.5 million caused alarm in the community but was subsequently overshadowed by the following newspaper disclosures. The end of the second article revealed another $4.5 millions of missing money and suggested a more significant problem in the institution's finances. Public outrage had already reached boiling point when the third story was out, exposing the staggering $6 million in missing funds. The connection between fiscal irresponsibility and the suspected lack of plant security at the Arboretum was too glaring to ignore.

Despite all these horrific incidents, Wourms was offered a high-profile assignment at the Bernheim Arboretum in Kentucky. This move, which some perceived as a reward for incompetence, cast a shadow over the Arboretum's attempts to heal its internal problems. Wourms' resignation did nothing to assuage the wounds of his tenure, as many employees were left wondering how so much money could be lost without repercussions. 

That he was allowed to secure such a high-visibility position with Bernheim after the money scandal reflects a disturbing shortage of accountability by the higher realms of botanical facilities, further jeopardizing public credibility in institutions chartered to help preserve our country's natural assets. This lack of accountability not only undermines the Arboretum's credibility but also hampers its ability to effectively address the issues of plant theft and mismanagement.

Ethical and Ecological Consequence: The Price Tag of Plant Stolen
Thievery from institutions like the Los Angeles County Arboretum is not strictly a financial phenomenon but an ecological problem. Many target plants are also preserved and utilized in conservation, bred to be maintained as a dying breed or a genetic resource for future research. 

The robbery of these plants is a loss for the Arboretum and the overall conservation activities. Plants stolen to be resold on the black market may end up in private collections, where conservation is no longer guaranteed. Not only does this undermine the mission of the Arboretum, but it also threatens to undermine scientific research that can aid in conserving these species in the wild.

Also lost to these thefts is the Arboretum's educational purpose. Students, scientists, and gardeners depend on the Arboretum's varied collections to discover the sensitive balance of ecosystems, and the role plants play in human existence. As plants are stolen, the Arboretum's educational value to educate the public on biodiversity, preservation, and sustainability is lost, which erodes the basis of its academic purpose.

Solving the Problem: Potential Solutions and Best Practices
The Los Angeles County Arboretum must employ a multilateral defense system to protect its valued holdings and avoid rampant abuse. First, there must be an intensified internal system of control. Personnel must undergo background screening, and management staff must be reviewed continuously for observance of institutional policy. An explicitly stated code of conduct, supplemented by substantial penalties for its violation, will deter personnel from taking liberties regarding access to the Arboretum's holdings.

Additionally, enhancing the Arboretum's security infrastructure cannot be avoided. Strategic CCTV camera placement within the compound, particularly in high-value areas where rare and endangered plants are kept, is necessary. Motion sensors and regular sweeps by trained security personnel could prevent internal and external thefts. These measures should be supplemented with real-time monitoring systems so that security personnel can respond quickly to suspicious activity.

The second necessary step is to improve the Arboretum's public relations and outreach. The public must be made aware of the consequences of theft, not just legally but also morally. Coordinating with local police organizations can help arrest thieves and return stolen plants to their rightful places.

Finally, fostering a respectful culture among volunteers and employees is crucial. The Arboretum must work towards an acceptable workplace where the work of every employee is valued. An open, respectful, responsible organizational culture can minimize internal theft or negligence cases. Offering reasonable compensation, career growth opportunities, and a chance to develop oneself professionally can create a dedicated workforce for preserving the Arboretum's heritage.

The Culture of Silence Regarding the Missing Six-Million Dollars in Cash

As a renowned global botanical center, the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is immensely responsible for conserving biodiversity, public education, and enhancing conservation. But all that is being precluded by the unbridled pilfering of plants, either outside or even within its boundaries. Its solution is not simple but can be rectified by stronger in-house regulations, enhanced security measures, better relations with workers, and strong public education programs.

For the Arboretum to keep its valuable collections intact for generations, it must address the chronic issues of theft and dereliction. The financial mismanagement under Dr. Mark Wourms and rewarding him with his next job at Bernheim Arboretum sends a disturbing message that the institution's leadership is more concerned with keeping its image intact than correcting its internal deficiencies. 

By facing these challenges head-on, the Arboretum can fulfill its potential as a haven for threatened and endangered plants and an oasis for contemplation and learning. Two new CEOs of the Arboretum have taken place since Mark Wourms departed; nothing substantial has been addressed about abandoning plants, stealing rare plants, and stealing funds.

A Botanical Betrayal: The Unspoken Crisis at the Los Angeles County Arboretum

The Silent Scandal of Theft and Abandonment

The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is a jewel in the crown of Southern California—a living museum of diversity, a sanctuary for threatened and endangered species, and a testament to the gentle hand of human stewardship of nature. But beneath its well-manicured paths and flowering canopies is a disturbing reality: an institution victimized by theft, incompetence, and a culture of silence.

The twin crises of the Arboretum—external poaching and internal corruption—are a symptom of a systemic failure to maintain public trust. Although the pilfering of valuable flora by entrepreneurial outsiders is a ubiquitous plague of botanical institutions across the board, the more significant subversive threat is from within. The personnel safeguarding irreplaceable specimens have been implicated in their loss—through negligence, disillusionment, or outright thievery.

The Shadow of Financial Mismanagement

The scandal surrounding former director Dr. Mark Wourms casts a dark shadow over the Arboretum's leadership. The Arcadia Tribune's investigative reporting uncovered $6 million in unbudgeted money—a figure so significant as to suggest gross incompetence or outright corruption. And rather than being punished, Wourms was rewarded with a high-profile position at the Bernheim Arboretum, a move suggestive of institutional cronyism.

This impunity trend raises some awkward questions: If financial regulation was so lax, what else fell through the net? If millions of dollars in cash could go missing without sanction, how many threatened plants have been smuggled away, sold, or allowed to wither from neglect?

The Black Market's Green Gold

Plants have an illicit black market worth billions of dollars, and off-beat plants bring astronomical figures from immoral horticulturists. A premier institution of international collection status like the Arboretum makes an ideal choice for a prime target of significant value. And as burglars on the outside exploit weaknesses in security, so may a greater risk. These personnel move through the grounds every day regularly, including the first-hand observers of data concerning the most prized plants, their locations, and security weaknesses at the institution.

Dissatisfied employees, who are underpaid and overlooked, may see it as a right to steal as revenge for wrongs done. Casual laborers, dedicated only to their checks and not the organization, see nothing wrong with taking a cutting or eradicating an expensive specimen. In this sort of environment, no one has to report; this goes unchecked, and the Arboretum's living repository is filled with gaps.

The Cost of Silence

The most severe censure of Arboretum management is not the thefts but the silence that ensued. Two CEOs have succeeded Wourms, and neither has uttered a word about the millions stolen, the vanished plants, or the lost public trust. This kind of institutional omertà would suggest a desire for reputation management over revelation—a betrayal of the Arboretum's mission of conservation and education.

Security, Accountability, and Cultural Reform

To regain its integrity, the Arboretum must make drastic changes:

1  Forensic Audits & Transparency—A truthful, impartial investigation of the missing $6 million is not a choice. The public must be told what occurred, and donors must feel secure that their contributions are not being squandered.

2  Tightened Security Measures—To deter internal and external pilferage, Surveillance, RFID marking of high-value plants, and further limited access controls must be implemented.

3  Whistleblower Protection – Reporters of misconduct must be shielded from retaliation. Fear spawns’ corruption; accountability deters it.

4  Ethical Leadership – The incoming CEO must be a reformer, willing to confront previous weaknesses, and committed to institutional integrity.

The Los Angeles County Administrators Do Not See How Many Volunteers Have Quit

The Arboretum has lost many dozens of former volunteers due to the toxic, apathetic culture which permeates top to bottom.

The Los Angeles County Arboretum is not just a garden—it is a public trust, a scientific resource, and a reminder of our shared duty to be caretakers of nature's marvels. Its biggest threat, though, is not from rogue climbers of its fences but from within—neglect, complicity, and unwillingness to confront uncomfortable truths.

If the Arboretum is to realize its mission, it must first compensate for its failures. The deafening silence must be shattered. The money must be accounted for. The plants must be rescued. And the people who hijacked the public's trust must at last be made to answer for it.

The stakes are higher than Arcadia. This is a test of whether our cultural institutions can be guardians of nature and integrity—or whether they will succumb to their own implicit scandals.

 

Mark Wourm's Two Replacements at the LA County Arboretum

Former/Current CEO of the LA County Arboretum After Wourms

Richard Schulhof was the 2021 resigning LA Arboretum CEO. He had been CEO for decades and a prime facilitator of Mark Wourm's toxic clyptomaniac culture.

Current CEO (as of 2024)

Susan (Sue) Oh is the LA County Arboretum's current CEO. She replaced Schulhof and has been running the organization with an eye toward sustainability, without any pH tests.

 

The Secret Crisis at the Los Angeles County Arboretum: A Legacy of Neglect, Theft, and Unchecked Incompetence

The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden used to be a beacon of horticultural excellence in its prime—a sanctuary where rare and exotic plant species thrived under the care of professionals. It is now a warning tale of institutional collapse, where money has been embezzled and stolen by insiders, and the toxic, unprofessional culture of employing unqualified staff has eroded its mission so much that recognition is no longer possible.

The Sexist Racist Dilemma: A Workforce Unfit for Purpose

Under Dr. Mark Wourms, the Arboretum was revolutionized—not in plant holdings, but personnel. A whopping 66%-72% of new hires were childbearing-age women brought aboard not for any expertise in botany, soil science, or conservation but for their compatibility with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion requirements. The result? A labor force full of ideological fervor but utterly clueless in horticultural niceties.

These unqualified hires walk through the gardens with the confidence of old pro-botanists, but their ignorance is as apparent as the dying leaves they claim to rescue. Soil pH—the most fundamental of metrics in plant care—is an enigmatic number to them. They walk past struggling plants set in radically inappropriate pH areas, never so much as taking the effort to test with litmus paper, let alone a retail soil probe.

They are willfully ignored, death by slow indifference, and they have the temerity to "save" threatened species as if their mere existence is equivalent to conservation. The truth is much more devious. These plants are doomed to fail, victims of a staff more interested in "activism" than in actual horticultural talent. The improper pH is only the tip of the iceberg—the outward sign of an inner decay. Decades of incompetence, mismanagement, and neglect simmer below the surface, concealed behind hollow Parroted Horticulture rhetoric and performative conservation.

Stealing from Within: When Caretakers Turn into Poachers

Though plant thieves operating outside are an actual threat, the actual threat comes from within the Arboretum itself. Cynical staff who have been disillusioned for decades by political bias and mismanagement have begun stealing valuable specimens—either to sell or as vindictive revenge against an institution that no longer deserves it.

Seasonal workers, temporary and unskilled, stuff slip cuttings into their bags with impunity. Frustrated by a workplace that values identity over talent, full-time workers might see no moral dilemma in pilfering out a prized plant or two. And why not? When $6 million in cash can disappear on a director's watch without consequence, why should anyone fear being in trouble for stealing a rare succulent?

The Missing Millions: A Non-Scandal

The bombshell series of Arcadia Tribune exposés on the missing millions in the Arboretum ought to have ended Wourms' career. Instead, in a grotesque exhibition of cronyism at its worst, he was assigned a plum assignment at the Bernheim Arboretum—an imprimatur of horticultural community cronyism at its best.

Two CEOs followed, and neither said a word about the missing money, the stolen plants, or the institutional incompetence that infects the institution. Their silence is deafening—a tacit acknowledgment that the Arboretum's administration cares more about its liberal image than it does about its plant collections.

The Final Indignity: They "Are Preserving"

And so, the Arboretum plods along, a shadow of its former self. The under-qualifed hires keep rolling in, congratulatory in their ignorance, patting themselves on the back for "preserving" plants that they are actively killing with neglect. The stolen plants are making the rounds on the black market, the vanished millions remain missing, and the institution's leadership remains blind.

They "are preserving."

As if uttering it makes it accurate.

Mark Wourms sacked most or all of the older, seasoned white male Horticulturists who used to work at the Arboretum. They have never been replaced, as it is very difficult to find such qualified persons in 2025 willing to work for the lower wages. A female and a male Plant Propagator both filed grievances under Mark Wourms, complaining of “being tortured at work.”

To the L.A. County Board of Supervisors: Count the ratio of young women vs men of any age, it is about 7 to 3. Almost everyone in Administration or Plant Propagation is a woman. Almost all of the seasonals are young women. Most of the permanent staff is female. This is why nobody has treated pH, anywhere. The Los Angeles County Arboretum's Achilles Heel is Cronyism. The Principals within the system, and their "trusted" sycophants, operate as extremely large fish in a small fishbowl. Their feudal champions engage the staff not with horticulture and botany, but with power trips, cronyism and toxic work culture.

Sources:

1  The Arcadia Tribune's investigative series on Arboretum finances.

2  Interpol's 2020 environmental crime report, referencing the $23B illicit plant trade.

3  The Huntington Library's security procedures as a model for theft prevention.

4 The Journal of Applied Horticulture on internal threats to botanical collections.

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© Chris Spencer