IRVINE The Irvine Co.’s offer to donate 20,000 rugged acres won a quick yes vote Saturday morning from the OC Parks Commission, who gathered on a lawn amid leafy trees at the Irvine Ranch Historic Park.

Then, it was on to the main event: a tour of the proposed new parkland, a collection of parcels in north central Orange County that includes some of the county’s most stunning native habitat.

The commissioners rode in a small caravan through the winding, dusty roads of Weir, Fremont and Gypsum canyons. They saw buck deer shepherding does, the burned out remnants of a stand of rare Tecate cypress trees, meadows of native grasslands and oak woodlands, imposing rock formations and other features.

“You can see the rock outcrops,” OC Parks executive officer Mark Denny told the group when it reached Fremont Canyon. “My staff calls it the Yosemite of Orange County.”

The Parks Commission itself cannot approve the land transfer; instead, the commissioners voted to recommend it to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, expected to consider the issue Sept. 29.

But parks officials say the county can handle the cost of managing the new parkland, which would increase its holdings of 39,000 acres by 50 percent.

The acquisition also would include creation of a brand-new, 2,000-acre nature park, Black Star Canyon Regional Park, with added ranger enforcement that could reduce problems caused by late-night revellers complained about by residents.

The land proposed for transfer, which also includes Limestone Canyon, Loma Ridge and Laguna Laurel, is now being managed by the Irvine Ranch Conservancy; it is part of the historic Irvine ranch lands.

Much of it can be seen by drivers on both sides of the 241 tollway as they head to and from the 91 freeway.

But as the trucks picked their way slowly along dirt roads through the wild acreage, it was possible to plunge into the silence of oak woodlands seemingly thick with mule deer, or ride along ridges that offered wide-open views of hills and homes in the distance.

On one of them, Windy Ridge, the commissioners and other county and Irvine Ranch Conservancy officials saw the skeletal remains of rare Tecate cypress trees burned in the 2006 Sierra Peak Fire, with native plants such as bear grass growing around them.

The trees’ cones pop open when exposed to the heat of wildfire, normally allowing new trees to take root. But in this stand, most of the trees were too young to reproduce, said Trish Smith of the Nature Conservancy.

“On top of that, there was drought,” she said. “There wasn’t enough moisture.”

Luckily, Tecate cypress trees across the canyon were shielded from the fire, and continue to thrive.

A number of details of the proposed land transfer remain to be worked out: how much of the new land to open to public access, and when — most of it is now open to docent-led tours only — and what portion of an existing financial endowment from the Donald Bren Foundation for maintenance and management of the land remains available.

But the commissioners sounded impressed with the potential acquisition after seeing it up close.

“It’s an opportunity for us to be exposed in a way that makes us better commissioners — because access to this property has been so restricted so long,” said Bert Ashland, the commission’s chairman.

Related post:

Irvine Co. to donate 20,000 acres to OC Parks

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