Piece of UCI Campus Added to Preserve
A piece of land on the UC Irvine campus will be added to an Orange County nature preserve under a new state conservation plan, officials said Friday.
The UC Board of Regents agreed to set aside 135 acres as part of the preserve. The land encompasses about 60 acres of an existing campus open-space reserve, including some coastal sage scrub habitat that is home to the rare songbird called the California gnatcatcher.
The UCI land will be added to a 37,000-acre preserve in central and coastal Orange County, created under a new state effort called the Natural Community Conservation Planning program. Its goal is to protect rare plants and animals while allowing development on land outside the preserve areas.
UCI’s participation in the program could make it easier to extend California Avenue on the campus in the future, a UCI official said.
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