Southern California Coastal Mountains to the Sea - A Celebration of Open Space on the Historic Irvine Ranch (Hardcover)

In the heart of the densely populated Southern California lies a magnificent 50,000-acre network of permanently preserved open space, which has been designated as a Natural Landmark by both the State of California and the U.S Department of Interior. As the largest urban open space in the United States, more than 3 million people live less than 30 minutes from the landscape beauty of the Historic Irvine Ranch. Stretching from the coastal mountains to the sea, it is home to stunning features like deeply forested oak woodlands, vast canyons and hillsides that fill with seasonal wildflowers and a unique geological formation known as "The Sinks" in Limestone Canyon, which originated some thirty-five million years ago and has the look of a miniature Grand Canyon. For over a century these magnificent lands were used by cowboys for cattle grazing. Today, the public has access to thousands of acres of open space and parklands, representing an important chapter of land preservation and conservation. In this new title, David Stoecklein uses his camera to document the beautiful varied landscape that makes up the Irvine Ranch.