Irvine Ranch gets special status
Donald Bren points out features of the newly named Irvine Ranch National Natural Landmark to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Fran P. Mainella, director of the National Park Service.
Irvine Ranch gets special status
Donald Bren, left, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveil a brass plaque this morning that proclaims 37,000 acres of Irvine Ranch land a National Natural Landmark.
I have many wonderful memories of hiking on the Irvine Ranch as a kid, and hiking Back Bay around the salt ponds of lower Newport Harbor.
Of course, in those days, ('60's and '70's) Orange County was still mostly orange groves and orchards!
I remember when officials from the OC Airport came to our neighborhood (Santa Ana Heights, around the Back Bay) and promised all of us that the OC Airport would NEVER allow any jets to land there!!
I haven't been back home in many, many years, but I understand my old elementary school, Back Bay Elementary, was long-since bulldozed...and I have no idea how Kaiser Junior High or Newport Harbor High are faring.
My Mom and her sisters are all alumni of Newport Harbor, classes of 1927-1932.
Man...it's been years since I thought of Back Bay and the Irvine Ranch!
Ed
OC Register story: Ranch a national treasureRanch a national treasure
LANDMARK: Jeremy and Kathleen Taylor, part of an Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust group, hike out of Bommer Canyon.
Part of the 50,000-acre Irvine Ranch will receive a rare boost in prestige today: designation as a National Natural Landmark, the first for California since 1987.
In a ceremony at Crystal Cove State Park, National Parks Service officials will confer the honor on 37,000 acres of ranch property and parks that once were part of the ranch.
The land will include two large parcels, according to the Irvine Co.: Crystal Cove and Irvine Co. land near Laguna Beach, and natural canyons northeast of Orange.
Fewer than 600 places nationwide have gained National Landmark status. They include Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Torrey Pines State Park and Mount Shasta in California, Diamond Head in Hawaii, and the Willamette River in Oregon.
The natural habitats on Irvine Ranch represent prime examples of vanishing Southern California ecosystems, and were reviewed by biological and geological experts before the designation could be granted, the Irvine Co. said. Landowners must apply to receive the landmark status.
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