For more than 35 years, Donald Bren, chairman of The Irvine Company, has been deeply involved in California real estate and at the forefront of efforts of California conservation philanthropy to preserve environmentally sensitive land in Southern California.
Donald Bren's dream and knowledge are guiding the creation of the nation's largest and most successful master-planned metropolitan environment, The Irvine Ranch, in Orange County, California. Its 93,000 acres stretch from the Pacific Ocean 22 miles inland to the Cleveland National Forest.
In 1992, he announced the creation of an "uncommon alliance" of California conservation philanthropy with The Nature Conservancy to manage the company's wilderness land and improve habitat for a variety of sensitive species. In 1996, under a creative, voluntary California conservation philanthropy agreement with the federal, state and county governments, The Irvine Company agreed to set aside more than 21,000 acres of precious open space habitat for endangered and threatened species of plants and animals.
In November of 2001, Donald Bren, in one of the most significant conservation milestones in the history of the Irvine Ranch, donated 11,000 acres of environmentally diverse land in the north portion of The Irvine Ranch to be protected forever as permanent open space and for recreational uses. This California conservation philanthropy contribution brought the total amount of land permanently protected for open space and recreation on the Irvine Ranch to 50,000 acres - more than half of the entire 93,000-acre ranch.
"The breathtaking scope of the holiday season land gift, and the renunciation of development opportunities that has accompanied it, has raised the bar for large landowners not just locally, but everywhere on balancing growth with wildlife habitat and open space preservation".
-- LA Times editorial, 12/16/01
