​Grab your shoes, water, and friends and take a hike! National Take a Hike Day is on Sunday, November 17. Irvine Ranch Conservancy invites you to celebrate on the spectacular trails of the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks. With nearly 40,000 acres of open space, the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks offer a variety of trails to explore.
 
Did you know the simple act of taking a hike can have positive benefits for your health? Hiking can help reduce stress and blood pressure, while increasing heart activity. National Take a Hike Day is the perfect opportunity to unwind from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and relax before the busy holiday season.

Irvine Ranch Conservancy takes great pride in its habitat restoration projects that help to revive the ecosystems within urban wildlands. These projects thrive through the efforts of our staff members like Nicole Tamura, who has worked with Irvine Ranch Conservancy for the past three years .
 
As a Program Coordinator for Irvine Ranch Conservancy, Nicole manages the monitoring of projects focused on specific success criteria. Nicole also collects and analyzes data on plant communities, wildlife diversity, and ecological health.

“I love the diversity of work I get to do with Irvine Ranch Conservancy,” said Tamura. “I always have exciting tasks, whether it’s counting songbirds in Limestone Canyon, identifying pollinators under a microscope, or frolicking through the foothills to take vegetation data on our habitat restoration projects.”

​Nearly a decade ago, Irvine Ranch Conservancy was faced with the challenge of acquiring plant materials like seed and container plants for habitat restoration projects throughout the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks. Irvine Ranch Conservancy staff put their heads together and proposed an innovative idea of collecting seeds from the wild and growing them on a farm. Once grown, the plants would be harvested for more seed and used in restoration projects throughout the Landmarks. This idea led to the creation of the Native Seed Farm.
 
This fall season marks the 10th anniversary of the Native Seed Farm and Irvine Ranch Conservancy is excited to celebrate the significant growth and impact the Farm has had in restoring the Landmarks, as well as educating the community.
 
“The Farm was started as a direct response to an issue, but it has evolved into a community outreach asset,” said Mike O’Connell, the President and CEO of Irvine Ranch Conservancy. “Thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers, we’ve not only been able to produce the plant materials and seed needed for our restoration projects, but get the community involved and educate them along the way.”

​From lizards and mice to tarantulas and bats, the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks are filled with a variety of native creatures, including several rare species. While many of these critters are known for their creepy appearance, they are in fact an important part of the ecosystem and are often more afraid of us than we are of them! The Halloween season brings the perfect opportunity to re-think the reputation of some of these extraordinary creatures. See if you can get a glimpse of a tarantula or a bat colony while enjoying the crisp fall air on a hike or bike ride. Keep in mind that the open spaces are a natural habitat. If you come across an animal, do your part to ensure your safety and protect the environment by maintaining a long viewing distance.
 
During the fall, tarantulas can be spotted all throughout the trails. A member of the spider family, tarantulas have eight legs, which are much larger, thicker and hairier than most other spiders that live in the United States. Although tarantulas are sometimes seen as creepy, they are not aggressive and can easily be admired from a distance. Just don’t get too close or touch them – an aggravated tarantula’s bite, while not lethal, releases an inflammatory amount of venom. It’s best to leave these creatures in peace so they can play their important role in the ecosystem: tarantulas help keep things in balance by eating large insects and small vertebrates like lizards and mice.

Throughout the year, Irvine Ranch Conservancy works diligently to produce native seed that supports habitat restoration efforts across the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks. Since 2009, Irvine Ranch Conservancy’s Native Seed Farm has played a key role in these efforts by providing a reliable source of local native seed, while also creating unique opportunities for the community to connect with the land.
 
The seed production cycle starts with hand collection of a small batch of native seeds from the wildlands. Those seeds are the source material for the large plots of native plant species that are maintained on the farm. Seed production is a year-round effort. Since native plants are adapted to our Southern California climate, they grow in the cool, moist winters and bloom in the warm spring and summer sunshine. To align with this natural timing, annual wildflower seeds are sown on the farm in November and germinate with the winter rains. Perennial species are grown in the nursery over the summer, and seedlings are planted into farm plots in December and January.