Bee Flat Canyon restoration project by the Irvine Ranch Conservancy

California gnatcatchers, coastal cactus wren and a host of other species may soon return in droves to an Irvine canyon that had been decimated from wildfires and hundreds of years of cattle grazing.

Project Manager Robert Freese walks a ridge road above Bee Flat Canyon where he looks at the growth of yellow tarplant, which was part of the 10-year restoration project of the canyon which was recently completed.

Robert Freese walks a ridge road above Bee Flat Canyon, where he looks at the growth of yellow tarplant. He is the project manager of the 10-year restoration project of the canyon was recently completed. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Aug. 5, 2020 5:53 PM PT

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Robert Freese is the project manager of the Irvine Ranch Conservancy’s 10-year restoration project of the Bee Flat Canyon. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Purple needle grass flourishes on the side of a hill near Bee Flat Canyon. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Bee Flat Canyon is part of a 10-year environmental restoration project which was recently completed by the Irvine Ranch Conservancy. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently deemed the Bee Flat Canyon restoration project a success. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

A burned piece of old fencing shows the scar of brush fire at the bottom of Bee Flat Canyon. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Yellow tarplant flowers bloom in Bee Flat Canyon. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Robert Freese walks in a field of purple needle grass and yellow tarplant in Bee Flat Canyon. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

A “farewell-to-spring” flower at the bottom of Bee Flat Canyon. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

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