<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <!-- saved from url=(0075)file://M:\public_affairs\bren\Irvine-Ranch-Acreage-Gets-Landmark-Status.htm --> <!-- saved from url=(0053)http://intranet/newsclips/10-11-2006/article-9945.htm --><HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Irvine Ranch Acreage Gets Landmark Status</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <META content="" name=description> <META content="LOS+ANGELES+TIMES News Article" name=Subject> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2802" name=GENERATOR> <style type="text/css"> <!-- .style1 { font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; } .style2 { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; } --> </style> </HEAD> <BODY> <P align=left>&nbsp;<img src="logos/latimes.gif" alt="Los Angeles Times" width=432 height=54 border=0></P> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 width=672 border=0 cellpadding?0?> <TBODY> <TR> <TD><P><STRONG style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt">Irvine Ranch acreage gets landmark status<BR> </STRONG>The governor is among those at a ceremony to announce the national designation, shared by Diamond Head and the La Brea Tar Pits.</P> <P class="style1">David Reyes<BR>Los Angeles Times</P> <P>October 11, 2006; B1</P> <table width="410" align="right" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"> <tr> <td><IMG src="images/NNL-bren-mainella-schwarzenegger-la-times-10-10-2006.jpg" alt="From left: Irvine Company Chairman Donald Bren; National Park Service Director Fran Mainella, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger walk through Crystal Cove State Park." width=410 height=283 hspace=4 vspace="4" align=right></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span class="style2">From left: Irvine Company Chairman Donald Bren; National Park Service Director Fran Mainella, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger walk through Crystal Cove State Park.</span></td> </tr> </table> <P>A 37,000-acre swath of Orange County that stretches from the ocean to the foothills -- property that once was part of historic Irvine Ranch -- was designated Tuesday a national landmark.</P> <P>National Park Service Director Fran P. Mainella said the designation was in recognition of one of the best examples of preserved habitats and biological and geological characteristics in the country.</P> <P>The landmark designation was part of a brief ceremony held at Crystal Cove State Park and attended by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Irvine), State Parks Director Ruth Coleman, Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren, Mainella and others.</P> <P>Other areas similarly designated include Diamond Head in Hawaii, the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles and Torrey Pines State Reserve in San Diego County.</P> <P>At 37,000 acres, the Irvine Ranch National Natural Landmark is one of the largest areas to earn the designation.</P> <P>The rolling land includes canyons filled with coastal sage scrub, grasslands, and oak woodlands that naturalists say emphasize Southern California's subtle, natural beauty.</P> <P>During the evaluation leading to the designation, scientists noted that the area's natural resources included nearly 80 million years of geologic history "preserved, uninterrupted like a virtual encyclopedia of stratigraphy," according to Michael Soukup with the National Park Service.</P> <P>Stratigraphy is the study of rock layers and layering.</P> <P>The land has many owners, including the state, the county, Irvine, the Irvine Co. and the Nature Conservancy.</P> <P>To qualify under the landmark criteria, a proposed site must contain some of the best examples of a natural region's biological and geological features, said Stephen Gibbons, the park service natural landmarks coordinator.</P> <P>Although national parks are the country's most treasured assets, there are many other places with unique resources of national significance that won't ever be protected as parks, Gibbons said.</P> <P>"I see areas that may not be national-park caliber," he said. "Nevertheless, they're great examples of our national heritage. This natural landmark is one of them."</P> <P>In his remarks, Schwarzenegger said that Tuesday's event "celebrates another area of our state that can be enjoyed for generations." </P> <P>He also singled Bren out for his "conservation efforts & and generosity."</P> <P>The new landmark boundaries are part of the 50,000 acre Irvine Ranch Land Reserve, a nonprofit organization that Bren formed last year to help protect and restore natural resources.</P> <P>At the time, Bren donated $20 million to support the trust.</P> <P>Bren said that walking and hiking the ranch's wilderness lands had made him reemphasize "my dream" that Irvine Ranch would be known "for what has been preserved and protected here."</P> <P>The land included in the new designation has been preserved as parks and open space by the various landowners.</P> <P>It includes Limestone and Fremont canyons, Peters Canyon Regional Park near Orange, Crystal Cove State Park and Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and Bommer Canyon in Irvine.</P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></BODY></HTML>