National event encourages everyone to explore their local trails, kicking off summer fun.

American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day kicks off the summer season by encouraging everyone to “find your trail.” On June 4, join your fellow Americans enjoying trails all across the country and hit the trails right here in the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks.

​Each year for the past 24 years, American Hiking Society — along with local outdoors clubs, businesses, conservation organizations, and parks — have invited the public to attend special trail events on National Trails Day. Activities include recreational opportunities such as hikes, bike rides, trail runs, horseback rides, paddle trips, and kid-specific activities. Other events offer stewardship projects including trail maintenance, habitat restoration, and park cleanups.

​Volunteers are needed at the Native Seed Farm to collect seed from unique wildflowers such as cobweb thistle.

Native plants need sunlight and water to grow, but they also need another important thing: room. If an individual plant only used the soil directly below it to spread its seed, it would soon be overcrowded and run out of light and water. But plants are smart adapters – they use a variety of methods including wind, gravity, wildlife and water to disperse their seeds farther distances, giving the next generation of plants more space and resources to thrive.

​The variety of plant species in the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks is incredibly diverse, and so are the ways in which these native plants disperse their seed. Arroyo lupine’s seed pods buckle and twist as they dry out in the sun, eventually popping open and sending seeds flying. Cobweb thistle have pappus – tufts of hair on their seeds that resemble parachutes – that help their seed glide along with the wind. Other flowers such as dandelions use this method as well, but cobweb thistle pappus is much larger in size so it can catch enough of a breeze to carry the plant's bulky seeds. Gravity is the main seed-spreading tactic for other native plants such as black sage, whose seed drops to the ground and is occasionally transported longer distances with the help of harvester ants. Many native plants have different ways to attract animals to spread their seed. Bush sunflower doesn't smell like much when it's blooming, but once the seed is ripe it emits a strong, sweet and musty smell. Scientists still aren't sure exactly how bush sunflower disperses its seed, but many suspect this change in smell is a signal to birds and small seed-eating mammals that the seed is ripe and ready to go.

Buck Gully, Limestone Canyon and Orchard Hills are ideal areas in the Landmarks to see and hear birds.

Hundreds of native birds call Orange County home year-round, but there are also many migratory species drawn to the warmer Mediterranean climate of the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks. The variety of migratory birds in the Landmarks is incredibly diverse, due in part to the number of unique habitats found here.

​International Migratory Bird Day, on May 14, celebrates these birds and highlights conservation efforts made to protect them and the habitats they need to thrive. First started in 1993 and now coordinated by the nonprofit Environment for the Americas, the day is celebrated in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

See a different side of The Sinks during hiking, mountain biking and equestrian programs in the Landmarks.
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The new East Sinks Viewing Deck, which boasts stunning vistas of Orange County’s very own “mini Grand Canyon,” is now open for visitors after a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 3 in OC Parks’ Limestone Canyon Nature Preserve. Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer and OC Parks staff were joined by hikers, mountain bikers, equestrians, and Irvine Ranch Conservancy staff and volunteers in dedicating the new deck, which is the second platform overlooking The Sinks.