The UCI Ecological Preserve is a 60 acre site on the southern edge of the campus . It is a part of the UCI main campus and is managed by the UCI Office of Natural Reserves for the School of Biological Sciences. The Preserve is enrolled in the Nature Reserve of Orange County. The Preserve…

The San Joaquin Marsh Reserve represents one of the last remnants of wetlands that once covered much of Orange County’s flood plain. Located in an ancient river-cut channel at the head of Newport Bay, the reserve supports a variety of wetland habitats, including marshlands, shallow ponds, and channels confined by earthen dikes. Dry upland habitats…

UCI in partnership with the Crystal Cove Alliance supports the Crystal Cove research facility for use in small-scale and low-impact scientific research. Crystal Cove State Park is one of the most popular parks in the California State Park System and is located in the Newport Coast area less than 10 miles from the UCI campus.…

Set in the Morongo Basin of the western Mojave Desert, the Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve is a dry, boulder-strewn landscape of shallow canyons and ridges of sculptured granite. Three floristic regions meet at the site: Transverse Range, Sonoran Desert, and Mojave Desert, creating a diverse mixture of flora and fauna characteristic of both deserts and…