Improvements at Red Rock Stage Area are just part of repairs being made at Irving Ranch Conservancy while the IRC is closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Courtesy photo.
Irvine Ranch Conservancy (IRC) and its land partners, OC Parks, the City of Irvine, and City of Newport Beach, have taken advantage of the COVID-19 shutdown to make improvements to the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks and rehabilitate areas damaged by recent wildfires. With over 40,000 acres of land on the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks and countless plant and animal species, these wildlands are an important part of Orange County’s natural habitat.
In recent years, increased wildfire danger has become more of a threat to the Landmarks, with fires occurring 90% more frequently than natural return intervals of 70 to 150 years. On October 26, 2020, the Silverado Fire burned about 12,466 acres of land in Orange County, damaging infrastructure and natural habitats on the Landmarks. Due to the COVID-19 shutdown, public a
Williams Canyon Fire Victims Brace for Mudslides, Prepare to Evacuate in Orange County
Residents of Williams Canyon are preparing to evacuate their community as potential mudslides caused by fierce rains threaten to destroy their homes and livestock in rural Orange County, California.
At noon on Jan. 28, Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputies drove through the canyon, urging residents to leave the area and blasting warnings of a “voluntary evacuation” over loudspeakers.
“We cannot wait until after the rain comes to get horses out or to get people out. We’ve got to get out now,” Susan Iwamoto, 56, told The Epoch Times. “We’re just trying to salvage what we can.”
Otay Ranch continued to dominate new home sales in San Diego County in 2020, said an annual report from John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
There were 760 home sales in the Chula Vista development last year, making it the No. 17 top selling master-planned community in the nation in John Burns’ annual top 50 list. Based on data through November, nearly a third of all newly built homes sold in San Diego County were in Otay Ranch.
The 25,000-acre development, nearly the size of San Francisco, actually had 50 fewer sales in 2020 compared to the previous year when it ranked No. 8 on the list.
Scott Wild, vice president of John Burns, said the drop in sales had more to do with developers struggling to build enough homes nothing to do with demand. He said several builders laid off staff at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic anticipating a recession, not predicting the intense rise in home prices and demand for houses from workers stuck doing jobs from home.
MARIAM HANSEN
ST. HELENA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
This is the story of how one of the last remnants of the electric San Francisco, Vallejo & Napa Valley Railway ended up in a backyard on Pope Street.
It all started when the Vallejo, Benicia & Napa Valley Railroad Company incorporated on April 24, 1902. The service was expanded to San Francisco and in 1906 the service was reincorporated as the San Francisco Vallejo & Napa Valley Railroad Company (S.F.V.&N.V. R.R. Co.). It was one of the few electric railroads in the west that ran on alternating current (AC). By December 1907 crews were laying track on St. Helenaâs Main Street and taking many loads of gravel out of Sulphur Creek for the rail bed.