UCI Nature
Research, Education and Public Engagement.
UCI Nature offers UC Irvine’s faculty and students opportunities to bring their research, scholarship, teaching, public service, and developing careers out into the natural environment in a wide diversity of settings characteristic of California.
Campus Ecological Preserve
- 62 acres of coastal sage scrub and grassland within an urban-wildland matrix and walking distance from campus.
- Enrolled in a 36,000 acre regional conservation plan overseen by the Orange County Natural Communities Coalition, a close partner with whom collaboration facilitates the expansion of research to regional studies and application of results to local environmental issues of concern.
- Outreach opportunities with the University Hills community.
- Proximate location for class exercises, research projects, and internship leadership opportunities in natural lands management and interpretation.
San Joaquin Marsh Reserve
- 202 acres of coastal freshwater marshes and experimental ponds, in addition to riparian and upland habitat, providing critical habitat for resident and migratory birds and the Pacific pond turtle. Adjacent former landfill overseen by UC Irvine and within the same regional conservation plan as the Campus Ecological Preserve.
- Located within walking distance from campus and situated between two major hydrologic features in Orange County: San Diego Creek and Upper Newport Bay.
- This asset places the University at a nexus point for addressing critical resource management issues relating to freshwater resources, impacts of stream management, and the threat of sea level rise, pertinent to Orange County specifically as well as other coastal zones.
- While the reserve provides critical habitat for species, there is also much potential for ecological restoration, a growing field and important tool for addressing land management challenges. It serves as a natural laboratory across disciplines on campus, including the new Restoration Master’s Program.
Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center
The Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center (SBABDRC), housed in a former country club, is located adjacent to the park in the town of Borrego Springs. An agreement with Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the Anza-Borrego Foundation makes the park available to reserve users.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park encompasses a wide variety of habitats. High elevation species such as white fir grow on several mountaintops. Sonoran Desert stalwarts such as ocotillo, palo verde, fishhook cacti, and creosote are found in hotter, lower elevation areas. A perennial stream, Coyote Creek, offers rare riparian habitat within this arid region. Thirty fan palm oases, piñon pine and juniper forests, and live oak woodlands. The eroded formations of the Borrego and Carrizo Badlands are found in the eastern portion of the park.
The 932 plant taxa found in the park include a number of species unusual in California, such as the elephant tree more typical of Baja California. Late winter and early spring bring spectacular wildflower blooms and throngs of visitors. 331 bird species such as greater roadrunners and golden eagles are on the park checklist. Reptiles and amphibians include over 60 different species such as chuckwallas, desert iguanas, and the red diamond rattlesnake. The 60 species of mammals range from kit foxes and mule deer to the majority of the endangered desert bighorn sheep remaining in California.
Petroglyphs, pictographs, and other archeological sites indicate that human habitation in the area began at least 6,000 years BP. In the late eighteenth century, Spanish explorers encountered settlements of Kumeyaay, Cahuilla, and other native peoples in the area. The Southern Emigrant Trail and the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, which brought many nineteenth-century migrants to the West, pass through the park. The park’s Begole Archeological Research Center houses maps and historical artifacts from all of these periods and is located near the reserve headquarters.
Crystal Cove State Park Research Cottage
- Beach shore and coastal hill access within Crystal Cove State Park.
- Meeting/lecture space, lab (wet and dry), and public area for outreach.
- Included within agreement between UCI, State Parks and Crystal Cove Conservancy, leveraging resources to provide mutually beneficial programs in research, education, and public service. These programs provide leadership experiences for students, education to the community and helps to advance the Park’s understanding and management of its natural resources.
Burns-Piñon Ridge Reserve
- 306 acres of high-desert habitat representing an ecotone between montane and desert biota, with mixtures of Joshua tree, piñon pine, and juniper woodland.
- Facilities include a former ranch house with kitchen, living room, and dorm rooms; faculty/researcher trailer, and camping area. Additional shop area to be renovated for lab and multi-purpose work space.
- Located approximately 15 minutes from the rural town of Yucca Valley in San Bernardino County and 30 minutes from Joshua Tree National Park.
- Partnership opportunities and connectivity with the local Wildlands Conservancy and National Park.
Loma Ridge Global Change Experiment
- 6.5 hectares located in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, just a few miles from Irvine’s northern neighborhoods.
- The land is owned by Orange County Parks and managed by the Irvine Ranch Conservancy (IRC).
- University of California, Irvine, researchers established the LRGCE to conduct long-term research that informs land conservation and mitigation of climate change in Southern California.
- To understand ecosystem responses to environmental change, the LRGCE manipulates water and nitrogen inputs in both dominant vegetation types. The manipulations have been applied to annual grassland since fall 2006 and to coastal sage shrubland since fall 2008.
Additional Natural Resources at UCI and in Orange County
Arboretum and Herbarium botanic garden and research facility supports projects conducted by students, post-doctoral scholars and faculty.
UCI Greenhouse is a 9,000-square-foot greenhouse with 15 growth areas that are individually programmable for temperature. It supports teaching and research.
South Coast Research and Extension Center (SCREC) serves as a regional field laboratory for UC scientists to conduct agricultural and natural resources management research.
Nature Communities Coalition is a nonprofit charitable organization that coordinates science and land management for the Natural Reserve of Orange County that has roughly 38,000 acres of permanently protected open space.
More Information? Please Contact:
UCI Nature Executive Director
Megan Lulow, Ph.D.