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Programs
Irvine Ranch Conservancy takes a landscape-scale adaptive approach to land management based in principles of science and ecology -- from restoring and monitoring habitats to providing visitor experiences that increase appreciation of the land, to protecting it from invasive species and wildfires. It's not about restoring one canyon, removing one weed species, or connecting a visitor to one location, but how everything on the land is connected -- and how coordinating all this activity can help preserve the land for generations to come.
The places we work are public lands, and protected forever. Some areas are preserved by permanent conservation easements, and others are included in the Central/Coastal Orange County Natural Community Conservation Plan and Habitat Conservation Plan (NCCP/HCP). This pioneering regional conservation plan, completed in 1996, provides regulatory certainty for local governments and private landowners, while guiding public owners and land managers in their long-term stewardship activities. Irvine Ranch Conservancy partners closely with public landowners such as OC Parks, the City of Irvine and the City of Newport Beach to help them fulfill their commitments to the NCCP/HCP and to network together to achieve an even higher level of stewardship over time.
Working with partners under land management agreements, Irvine Ranch Conservancy specializes in implementing and meeting the terms and conditions of the NCCP/HCP and related resource and recreation management plans on behalf of landowners. Irvine Ranch Conservancy Program areas include:
Monitoring & Research, Invasive Species, Fire Prevention, Restoration & Enhancement, Plant Materials, and Community Engagement & Education.
Resource & Land Management | Program Delivery
For more information on NCCP/HCP, please visit the Natural Communities Coalition website at occonservation.org.
The places we work are public lands, and protected forever. Some areas are preserved by permanent conservation easements, and others are included in the Central/Coastal Orange County Natural Community Conservation Plan and Habitat Conservation Plan (NCCP/HCP). This pioneering regional conservation plan, completed in 1996, provides regulatory certainty for local governments and private landowners, while guiding public owners and land managers in their long-term stewardship activities. Irvine Ranch Conservancy partners closely with public landowners such as OC Parks, the City of Irvine and the City of Newport Beach to help them fulfill their commitments to the NCCP/HCP and to network together to achieve an even higher level of stewardship over time.
Working with partners under land management agreements, Irvine Ranch Conservancy specializes in implementing and meeting the terms and conditions of the NCCP/HCP and related resource and recreation management plans on behalf of landowners. Irvine Ranch Conservancy Program areas include:
Monitoring & Research, Invasive Species, Fire Prevention, Restoration & Enhancement, Plant Materials, and Community Engagement & Education.
Resource & Land Management | Program Delivery
For more information on NCCP/HCP, please visit the Natural Communities Coalition website at occonservation.org.
What is a Landscape-Scale Perspective?
Plants and animals do not live in isolation. They depend on and are affected by each other in natural communities. And they are impacted by larger-scale processes and threats such as too-frequent wildfire, non-native species invasions, habitat fragmentation and climate change. To counter these issues within the complexity of the ecosystems in which we work, Irvine Ranch Conservancy applies a Landscape-Scale Perspective to our activities.
Evaluating and responding to conservation challenges at a large-scale and longer time perspective allows us to plan and implement programs and projects in in sync with how nature operates. We take advantage of processes such as seasonal changes, natural competition and succession, and time, to strengthen our efforts. We draw from existing scientific knowledge, new information developed by research partners, our own successes and failures, leading-edge management techniques, and above all -- practical, experience-based common sense.
Three Core Principles guide our science-based approach to stewardship:
Plants and animals do not live in isolation. They depend on and are affected by each other in natural communities. And they are impacted by larger-scale processes and threats such as too-frequent wildfire, non-native species invasions, habitat fragmentation and climate change. To counter these issues within the complexity of the ecosystems in which we work, Irvine Ranch Conservancy applies a Landscape-Scale Perspective to our activities.
Evaluating and responding to conservation challenges at a large-scale and longer time perspective allows us to plan and implement programs and projects in in sync with how nature operates. We take advantage of processes such as seasonal changes, natural competition and succession, and time, to strengthen our efforts. We draw from existing scientific knowledge, new information developed by research partners, our own successes and failures, leading-edge management techniques, and above all -- practical, experience-based common sense.
Three Core Principles guide our science-based approach to stewardship:
- Adaptive Management: Success is achieved long term through systematically and empirically testing hypotheses and assumptions, and incorporating lessons learned into transparent, adaptive, scientific decision-making frameworks; and then acting on them in a timely way. We learn as much -- or more -- from our failures as we do our successes, constantly refining and improving our approaches.
- Innovation: Long-term land stewardship presents complex challenges requiring constant creativity and innovation. Through collaboration with colleagues around the world working on similar issues, we develop, test and evaluate both new and standard approaches to ecosystem management and restoration of species and habitats across whole landscapes. We build on our own experience, and of those who came before us. Close collaboration with colleagues working across Southern California ensures we learn from their efforts as well.
- Human Dimensions: The Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks are surrounded by one of the most densely urbanized human landscapes in the nation. The future of these lands depends on the support and participation of adjacent human communities in their stewardship. Central to our efforts, therefore, is finding and effectively managing the dynamic balance between the needs of species and habitats and the desires and aspirations of people who wish to experience the extraordinary nature of Southern California. We believe strongly that, over the long term, in this populous region with enormous pressure on open spaces, people will only support and protect places that are meaningful to them. It is therefore essential to the survival of these rare natural resources that people connect to them in ways that are both fulfilling and sustainable.