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Irvine Ranch Conservancy Conducts Rare Plant Restoration in Crystal Cove State Park

3/31/2022

 
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Crystal Cove State Park
​Orange County’s coastal wildlands are made up of rich and diverse plant communities that include rare species only found in southern California. These communities have been impacted in many areas by former grazing, invasive plant species, and development. In response, Irvine Ranch Conservancy (IRC) is partnering with California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and Orange County Waste and Recycling (OCWR) to restore critical coastal habitat in Crystal Cove State Park (CCSP), with a special focus on rare plants. 

The project is intended to restore 7.5 acres of degraded coastal bluff and sage scrub and will be implemented over 7-8 years. The first 2-3 years are spent preparing the site, which involves weed control aimed at depleting the non-native seed bank. Once the seed bank has been sufficiently depleted, a diverse suite of native plant species will be installed via seed and container plants. For this project, IRC has added several rare plant species to the plant palette, including Coulter's saltbush, paniculate tarplant, cliff spurge, vernal barley, California box thorn, Orange County Turkish-rugging, and San Diego ground-cherry, all of which are known to occur in the park. 

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Implementing New Technology on the Landmarks to Improve Wildlife Camera Trap Monitoring

3/24/2022

 
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Deer caught on an Irvine Ranch Conservancy wildlife camera trap
Irvine Ranch Conservancy and landowners, OC Parks, City of Irvine and City of Newport Beach, are dedicated to their mission of preserving Orange County’s urban wildlands through a variety of science-based programs. IRC’s Monitoring and Research Program is a key element in analyzing ever-changing and vulnerable ecosystems in local native wildlands. Data collected from the program allows our staff to track changes and make informed land management decisions for restoration projects on the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks.

Since 2007, IRC has been using a network of over 50 strategically placed heat- and motion-triggered remote cameras throughout the Landmarks to monitor the health and activity of wildlife. Images captured by the camera traps provide vital information about the health and activity of wildlife in correlation with human activity on the land. However, this project has always been limited by technology and the time it takes to process the thousands of images captured on the camera traps. 

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Fire Ecology's Role in IRC's Restoration Efforts

3/17/2022

 
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Post-fire recovery in Weir Canyon
Irvine Ranch Conservancy conducts a variety of science-based programs to help protect, restore, and enhance the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks. Using comprehensive ecological knowledge and educational expertise, IRC staff is dedicated to ensuring native wildlands remain healthy and resilient. Living in Southern California, we are all too familiar with wildfires and how they can impact our lives, but what happens to the Landmarks when a wildfire event occurs? 

Through the study of fire ecology, IRC staff seek to better understand the impact of wildfires on local plant and animal communities. Historically, wildfires have played an important role in the structure of Southern Californian ecosystems, likely occurring every 40-100 years, and many native plants have developed adaptations that allow them to survive these events. Unfortunately, wildfire occurrences have become more frequent, primarily due to ignitions from roadways and utility infrastructure among other human causes. Toofrequent fires hinder native plant populations from rebounding following a fire, creating conditions for invasive species to move in.

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Connecting the Community with Nature

3/10/2022

 
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The City of Irvine’s Youth Action Team volunteering at the Augustine Staging Area.
Here at Irvine Ranch Conservancy, community engagement and education are at the heart of everything that we do. Whether it’s offering recreational events, stewardship activities or informal learning opportunities, we strive to help community members develop a personal connection to the land, no matter what age.
 
The IRC team is constantly working on a variety of different projects in and around the Landmarks, whether it's working on rehabilitating a local trail, watering plants at a nursery, or tending to plants at the Native Seed Farm. The City of Irvine’s Youth Action Team is one of the many community organizations IRC partners with to give local teens the chance to experience and learn about our native wildlands, and how they can help preserve important habitats.

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Impact of Unauthorized Trails on the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks

3/3/2022

 
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Trail signage in OC Parks' Limestone Canyon.
The Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks are full of important habitats and native wildlife and it's our job to protect these valuable natural resources. Irvine Ranch Conservancy and its partners, OC Parks, the City of Irvine and City of Newport Beach, work to create thoughtfully planned infrastructure in order to help sustain our native wildlands, while creating opportunities for the public to experience the Landmarks.
 
When exploring the Landmarks, trail users might occasionally come across an unmarked path that looks like an extension of a trail or a shortcut. While this might seem like an option to continue exploring, oftentimes trails that are unmarked were illegally created and are not authorized for use.

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    Welcome to the Irvine Ranch Conservancy "News from the Field" blog. These articles are written by Conservancy staff about activities and projects in and near the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks. 

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Irvine Ranch Conservancy  •  4727 Portola Pkwy. Irvine, CA 92620  •  714-508-4757  •  info@irconservancy.org

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  • Home
    • Landmarks Blog
  • What We Do
    • Programs >
      • Habitat Restoration and Enhancement
      • Wildfire Prevention
      • Community Engagement and Education
      • Invasive Species Control
      • Plant Materials
      • Monitoring and Research
      • Planning and Infrastructure
      • Volunteer Management
    • Where We Work
    • About Us >
      • Meet the Team
      • Our Partners
      • Careers
      • Contact Us
  • Volunteer
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