NATURE BOY: Irvine Co. Chairman Donald L....

NATURE BOY: Irvine Co. Chairman Donald L. Bren, perhaps best known for tile-roofed housing tracts, will soon be honored for preserving nature. Bren will receive the first Edmund G. (Pat) Brown Award on Dec. 9 in Los Angeles. The California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance is singling out Bren for creating a 17,000-acre open space reserve on Irvine Co. land. . . . A staunch Republican, Bren will receive the award from Brown’s daughter, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Brown.

OPRAH CALLING: TV talk shows aren’t all sex and dysfunctional families. Oprah Winfrey will squeeze in a more somber message in her show today (3 p.m., Channel 7). She talked by remote to Barbara Norton, PTA president of Top of the World Elementary School, who lost her home in the Laguna Beach fire. . . . For the taping last week, a large group of Norton’s friends joined her at the remains of her burned-out home. “We were there for Barbara,” Cheri David said. “She is a real pillar of our very close-knit community.”

WITH PEARLS? Barbara Bush has been busy making a post-White House home with husband George these days. But the Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda (B1) has announced she’ll make a rare public appearance there April 22, to talk about her White House days. Gov. Pete Wilson’s wife, Gayle, will join her. . . . Don’t just show up to buy a ticket, though. To hear Bush, you have to pay $49.50 for the library’s five-event lecture series.

HOME AT LAST: Sinjin, the 19-month-old pit bull that languished for months at the Irvine Animal Shelter, finally has a new home. The dog was adopted recently by an Irvine woman. “She lives by herself and wanted a companion/watchdog,” said kennel attendant Barbara Bilotta. “Sinjin is so protective. If anyone knocks on the door, she will bark.” More than 30 people inquired about Sinjin after news of her fate. But the shelter reports it still has 15 animals that are in need of homes.