This year 2026, will be the 20th reporting year for The Nature Reserve. Twenty years of managing and monitoring The Nature Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo. We started in 2007 with just over 2,000 acres and twenty years later The Nature Reserve is just over 8,700 acres of permanently conserved wildlands. So far, we have protected important populations of our listed species: California gnatcatcher, least Bell’s vireo, Riverside and San Diego fairy shrimp, thread-leaved Brodiaea and arroyo toad, in addition to important populations of our non-listed bird species such as cactus wren, grasshopper sparrow, yellow-breasted chat, yellow warblers and amphibians such as western spadefoot and southwestern pond turtle.  

Along the way we have improved the condition of The Nature Reserve by implementing a Reserve-wide invasive species control program particularly in our riparian and grassland communities. We have documented through monitoring that our coastal sage scrub continues to be healthy, our oak woodlands are slowly coming back from the extended drought of the 2011-2017 and the riparian habitat associated with our creeks is stable or improving. Through regular surveys we know that all our listed species continue to occupy their historic ranges on The Nature Reserve but year to year numbers vary according to conditions of the survey year.  

Looking forward, The Nature Reserve will continue to grow in size as Rancho Mission Viejo builds out. In the next year or so all of Verdugo Canyon will be conserved and we will move onto enrolling open space lands in Gobernadora Canyon and south of San Juan Creek. Ultimately, we look forward to the day when the phased dedication program is complete, and all the designated habitat reserve lands are conserved for the benefit of the 32 Covered Species.