From shining sea at Crystal Cove to majestic Saddleback Mountain, 37,000 acres given national designation.

CRYSTAL COVE — About 37,000 acres of Irvine Ranch land, extending from Crystal Cove to the foothills of Saddleback Mountain, was recognized Tuesday as the country’s newest National Natural Landmark.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, National Park Service Director Fran Mainella, Rep. John Campbell — who gave Schwarzenegger the new title of “conservationator” — and others gathered Tuesday morning in a parking lot on a bluff in Crystal Cove State Park, thanking Irvine Co. Chairman Don Bren for his help facilitating the process.

“We’re celebrating more than protecting the environment; we’re also celebrating generosity,” Schwarzenegger said.

The land, which is owned by Orange County, the city of Irvine, the Irvine Co., California State Parks and the Nature Conservancy, was subject to scientific evaluation by 10 geology and biology experts to assess its physical and geological significance. The area received the natural landmark designation because of the presence of fossils — which date back 80 million years — and a diverse animal and plant population that includes some endangered species and others unique to the area.

“My dream is that the Irvine Ranch will be known and celebrated just for what has been preserved and protected here & as the Irvine Ranch is known for the outstanding quality of life communities that have been built here,” said Don Bren in a prepared statement to a crowd of supporters and media.

Bren said Tuesday’s announcement marked his dreams of conserving the land coming true.

The maintenance of the land continues to be the responsibility of the land owners and paid for through the Irvine Co.’s $50-million Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust.

“The $50-million trust is for stewardship and educational programs and things of that nature,” said Dan Young, executive vice president of the Irvine Co.

Not since 1987 has land owned by a public-private partnership been given the designation.

“We hope with this kind of leadership happening, maybe others in our country will be so inspired to nominate land,” Mainella said after the formal ceremony.

Fewer than 600 sites are designated as a National Natural Landmark and the Irvine Ranch land joins places such as Oahu’s Diamond Head, and California’s Torrey Pines State Park, Anza Borrego Desert and Mt. Shasta in its designation.

Along with Crystal Cove, other areas recognized by the designation include Limestone and Fremont canyons, Peters Canyon Regional Park, Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, the open space between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, and Bommer Canyon.

The program was started to encourage land owners to protect natural areas to promote scientific advancement and education in the areas. Nominated sites must undergo an independent scientific evaluation.

Amanda Pennington
Daily Pilot

Big Swath Gets a Big Gift

The foundation of the Irvine Co.’s chairman gives $20 million to increase access to 50,000 acres of open space.

Standing in a small clearing amid giant sycamores in Irvine Regional Park on Thursday, Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren pledged $20 million to expand the public’s access to 50,000 acres of the former Irvine Ranch set aside as open space.

The gift brings to $50 million the amount donated by the Donald Bren Foundation to make sure the land is protected and remains in its rugged state.

Bren, making a rare public appearance before 200 invited guests, including U.S. Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, also announced the creation of the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust, a nonprofit he said guaranteed that the acreage would be permanently preserved.

The old ranch land stretches from the Anaheim hills to the ocean and includes Limestone Canyon and Crystal Cove. Three mountains-to-sea bike paths are included in the public access plan, with one of them recently opened. The Irvine Ranch Land Reserve covers more than 145 square miles, about half of it urbanized.

Trish Smith, a senior project ecologist with the Nature Conservancy, which manages 34,000 acres of the reserve, applauded the creation of the trust.

“It’s hard for me to imagine it’s really happening. We’ve been thinking about it for a long time, noodling and wishing for it, but we never thought it would actually happen,” Smith said.

The benefit of the trust, she said, is the consistent management it should provide. If the land were managed by the government, it would be subject to political whim and the government’s own economic restraints, she said.

The skies were overcast and a light fog clung to the hills as Norton and Bren took a short walk before the festivities began. But the clouds burned off and the sun came through as Bren spoke.

“My vision,” Bren told those assembled, “is that the reserve will set a new standard for conservation stewardship and recreation that will be understood and appreciated, not just in Orange County, but throughout the United States.

CHANGE IN THE AIR: Donald Bren, chairman of the Irvine Co., chats with U.S. Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton at Irvine Regional Park, where Bren announced his foundation’s donation. One of three trails from the mountains to the sea has been opened.

“I believe we can create a world-renowned park … a place where the people from Orange County can enjoy nature close to their homes,” he said.

The $20-million gift will be used to enhance public access to areas of the reserve that now are off-limits, including the opening of 30 new trails in the next three to five years, company officials said.

The money will also support management and restoration of natural habitats.

Norton praised the plans for the reserve.

“The Irvine Ranch illustrates what cooperative conservation is all about,” she said. “A conservation-minded corporate citizen is working hand-in-hand with federal and state agencies, the Nature Conservancy, local communities, private citizens and other partners to thoughtfully and purposefully create an environment where both people and wildlife can thrive.”

Times staff photographer Don Kelsen contributed to this report.

By Sara Lin, Times Staff Writer

Land-Gift Celebration as Big as All Outdoors
Open space: Officials, environmentalists and scientists
all hail the Irvine Co.’s decision.

Rugged canyons, centuries-old oak trees, and sweeping expanses of Chaparral and sage make up the 11,000 acres that Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren is preserving forever. It includes some of the most sensitive and biologically rich land in Southern California.

“It’s a treasure trove of biodiversity,” said Tom Scott, a natural-resources specialist with the University of California. Local elected officials, environmentalists and scientists are still celebrating Bren’s Wednesday announcement, which ensures that more than half of the 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch will remain undeveloped.

E-mails were flowing as word spread outside the state.

“Yee haw! That is fantastic news. It made my day,” wrote Paul Beier, a mountain lion expert at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, in an e-mail to local environmentalist Claire Schlotterbeck.

The land is home to scores of rare indigenous species, from mountain lions to Tecate cypress trees. Environmentalists have coveted it for years.

The preserved land includes a 17-square-mile swath in the northern part of the ranch. The swath stretches from Weir Canyon to Cleveland National Forest, and includes Fremont and Blind canyons and parts of Gypsum, Silverado, Santiago and Baker canyons. Expanses of grasslands, oak groves and other vegetation are studded with striking ridgelines and unusual rock formations.

Bren also preserved the “missing link” in Laguna Laurel, a 173-acre Parcel that links Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, Crystal Cove State Park and permanent open space in Irvine. The land is part of one of the last undeveloped coastal canyons in Southern California.

This parcel, valued at $33 million 12 years ago, has been sought by preservationists since the late 1980s. Phone calls have been pouring into the Laguna Canyon Foundation, a nonprofit organization created in 1991 to preserve and enhance Laguna Canyon and the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, since Bren’s announcement at an invitation-only gathering Wednesday night.

“We’ve had a lot of well-wishers congratulating us and they’re just so thrilled,” said a receptionist. “It’s been a very joyous day, very joyous.”

The North Ranch and Laguna Canyon parcels will be protected through permanent conservation easements that will be donated to the Nature Conservancy. Over the next decade, ownership of the land will be transferred to cities, the county and nonprofit groups.

But in the meantime, scientists, planners and environmentalists will Formulate immediate and long-term plans for the land. The Laguna Canyon land, for example, has been used for cattle grazing and needs restoration. Much of the land is currently off-limits to recreational users. But public access–which will vary from docent-led tours to picnicking, hiking and camping–could begin in some areas in less than two years.

The Irvine Co.–the largest landowner in Orange County–had extremely valuable development rights to build on some of the land, but company officials declined to comment on details.

On the Laguna Canyon parcel alone, the company could have built 1,500 homes The open space plan also apparently reduces the size of proposed Developments in East Orange and next to Anaheim, though details on how much are unavailable. The company has preliminary approvals to build nearly 20,000 homes on these two parcels but is expected to build far fewer.

The company’s plans for a large triangular pocket of unincorporated County land known as the North Ranch Policy Area were unknown until Wednesday, when Bren announced it would be preserved.

Several possible sites where the county was considering building a jail–including two east of Orange–are now off-limits, thrilling city officials–and creating a buzz Thursday in county offices about the loss of the potential jail sites.

Activists also believe the preservation may kill a proposal to build a Road through the Cleveland National Forest to connect Orange and Riverside counties.

“It leverages protection of even more land,” said environmentalist Schlotterbeck, long a critic of Irvine Co. policy. “It was a smart thing to do and a wise thing to do. I am grateful.”

SEEMA MEHTA, TIMES STAFF WRITER