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wo goals guide all major planning decisions on the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve: increasing public access, and protecting and restoring the reserve's sensitive natural resources. As you read this, dozens of fascinating conservation projects are underway across the reserve, such as...determining travel patterns and gender of bobcats using nothing more than pieces of their fur...saving rare Western pond turtles by recreating their natural habitats...restoring coastal sage scrub, home to species that are rarely found elsewhere in the world...counting California gnatcatchers by playing tape-recorded calls and waiting for the tiny birds to reply.

These diverse projects represent a shared commitment to preserve the irreplaceable resources which the land so generously yields. This special issue of Planning Ahead explores just a few of the projects.

The Irvine Ranch Land Reserve is a study in contrasts.

At more than 50,000 acres, it is vast enough and rough-and-tumble enough to accommodate the wanderlust mountain lion, who requires mile after mile of interconnected open space to roam, hunt and mate.

Yet it is diverse enough and sensitive enough to meet the exacting biological needs of lichen, a tiny, fragile organism that grows on and near rocks, in turn creating ideal living conditions for delicate rare plants.

The Irvine Ranch Land Reserve is a place of surprises.

More than a decade ago, when The Nature Conservancy accepted The Irvine Company's invitation to manage much of the wildlands on the Irvine Ranch, conservancy officials knew the lands were not only beautiful, but rich in plant and animal diversity. Then, to their delight and surprise, several inhabitants not known to exist here began making appearances: the American badger...the coastal rosy boa...the speckled rattlesnake...the coastal banded gecko.

The Irvine Ranch Land Reserve is worth protecting.

Besides its beauty, the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve contains a multitude of protected and rare animal and plant species. Rarely can residents of an urban setting be in such close proximity to so much permanently preserved open space...a beautiful resource in their community's backyard.

Whether you find yourself surrounded by ancient oaks in Limestone Canyon or buffeted by a salty ocean spray atop a bluff in Crystal Cove State Park, there is no mistaking the reserve's message: This is a special place indeed.