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Exploring the beautiful nature of California


California Nature: Irvine Ranch


The Irvine Company grew out of the 185-square-mile  ranch James Irvine, Benjamin and Thomas Flint, and Llewellyn Bixby founded in 1864 from three adjoining Mexican land grants.  In 1959 the Irvine Company donated 1,000 acres and sold 500 acres  near Newport Beach to the University of California for construction of a new UC campus. Nearly 40,000 acres of open space on the historic Irvine Ranch have been designated a Natural Landmark by both the State of California and the U.S. Department of Interior. Established in 1897, the land was the first of many donations by the James Irvine family to the public. Irvine Regional is Orange County’s oldest park, a historic landmark, and the very first regional park in the State of California. Some of Orange County’s oldest coast live oak and California sycamore trees can be found at the park, which offers 477 acres of shady picnic grounds, hiking and equestrian trails, stables, softball fields, volleyball courts, a lagoon with paddleboats, the Orange County Zoo, and even a steam-driven train. The Back Bay Loop Trail provides an exciting opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts to discover a magnificent regional trail experience and get to know the Bay. The 10.5 mile trail winds around the Bay, with scenic stops at places like Upper Castaways Park, the new Back Bay Science Center at Shellmaker Island, and Big Canyon.
Irvine Ranch in California holds many rare plants and animals in a protected environment The Back Bay Loop Trail also links to the 22-mile Mountains to Sea Trail. This scenic trail, designated a National Recreation Trail by the National Park Service, runs from Upper Newport Bay through Irvine past Peters Canyon Reservoir and into the rugged mountains of Weir Canyon north of Irvine Regional Park. Whether you travel by bike, horse, on rollerblades or simply by putting one foot in front of the other, you're in for a spectacular outdoor adventure as you explore the 22-mile "Mountains to Sea Trail" that traverses the historic 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch. Beginning in rugged, oak-filled Weir Canyon, the trail takes you south through six jurisdictions, five cities and a portion of the County of Orange, guaranteeing that the only constant on this trek is an exhilarating change of scenery and topography. The Mountains to Sea Trail, the backbone of the 50,000-acres of open space on The Irvine Ranch was created through cooperative municipal planning to let people of all ages and abilities experience unimpeded the magnitude, magnificence and diversity of The Ranch. From Weir Canyon to Peters Canyon Reservoir, past the historical Irvine Ranch agricultural headquarters and along the San Diego Creek Channel to Upper Newport Bay, there's no more enjoyable way to experience one of the nation's most spectacular networks of parks, trails and preserved natural lands.
For 136 years, the Irvine Ranch and its rugged, scenic canyons were off limits to all but cattle, cowboys, and descendants of its namesake, rancher James Irvine. In 1992, much of this private Orange County wilderness went public, offering its urban neighbors the opportunity to explore coastal sage scrub and oak woodland habitats that have nearly disappeared from southern California. This land sharing came about as a result of an unprecedented partnership between a private landowner, The Irvine Company, and land conservationists from The Nature Conservancy. In order to protect the ranch's resources, public access is limited to docent-led tours. These include guided tours for hikers, bicyclists and equestrians, as well as programs for children, birders, and artists. The ranch's 12,000-acre Weir, Gypsum and Fremont Canyons, adjacent to Cleveland National Forest, are home to many native animals and plants. These include the rare Tecate cypress, found only in three other areas of California. The 14,000-acre southern boundary, with its hills, meadows, wooded canyons and sweeping views of the Pacific, connects Crystal Cove State Park and the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.
Irvine Ranch is a wonderful spot to explore California nature The Irvine Ranch wildlands and parks are home to bobcats, red-tailed hawks, coyotes, mule deer, meadowlarks, and an abundance of other wildlife. Nearly 50,000 acres of wild lands and parks have been designated as permanent open space on The Irvine Ranch. But protecting the land is only the first step. Mediterranean ecosystems like these need extremely attentive stewardship. The rare plants, animals and habitats found here are adapted to specialized conditions and need our long-term management to survive. The mission of the Irvine Ranch Conservancy is to make sure that these lands are cared for and enjoyed to the highest possible standards. Scientists have identified this region as one of the world's biodiversity "hot spots", an area with large concentrations of different species. The open space throughout the Natural Landmarks contains rock formations and fossils that reveal a sequence of events chronicling earth's history dating back nearly 80 million years. This landscape also contains large swaths of coastal sage scrub, a rare habitat found only in coastal Southern California and northern Baja California. The combination of unusual geological and rare biological characteristics is rare even among Natural Landmarks.
 The Mediterranean climate zone exists in only five small areas of the world, including the wild lands and parks on the Irvine Ranch. The special ecosystems that have evolved in these regions are among the most threatened in the world, disappearing at three percent per year, faster than even tropical rainforests. The combination of balmy climate, nearby oceans and abundant natural resources means that Mediterranean climate areas are among the most desirable for human settlement. This has led to conversion of most of these habitat areas to urban or agricultural landscapes. The remote canyons of the 13,000-acre northern boundary, east of the city of Orange, are notable for "The Sinks" area of Limestone Canyon, a huge, steep-walled sandstone ravine that resembles a mini-Grand Canyon. The land harbors some of the county's richest oak and sycamore woodlands, as well as streams and springs, laced with blackberries and monkey flowers and shared by animals of all sizes, from mountain lions to rare lizards.
 
 
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