UCI Sustainable Landscape Program

Initial Campus Development

The original site designated for the campus on the Irvine Ranch was devoid of any significant trees and consisted of rolling hills covered in naturalized and native grasses with pockets of Coastal Sage Scrub. To achieve a campus presence and human scale in the early phases of development, while retaining the natural features and character of the site, UCI's initial landscape planning focused on establishing an urban forest. Some of the basic concepts in the landscape architectural supplement of UCI's 1963 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) included the following:

• The natural character and beauty of the rolling hills and the magnificent views should be maintained and selectively enhanced.
• Existing canyons and drainage ways should be used to form greenbelts and windbreaks, and to tie the Central Campus to the outlying areas of the University community.
• The landscape character of the academic quads should be more formal and urban, in contrast to the more informal areas between them (open space corridors, buffers and central park).
• The campus should be landscaped as an "arboretum," utilizing an extensive plant palette that is developed to include a wide variety of species, both exotics and native, that are environmentally suitable to the site conditions.

Most development over UCI's first 25 years focused on the Central Campus which has the character of a heavily forested park with well over 10,000 trees (estimated value over $12 million) in the central academic core. There are 15,000 to 20,000 trees over the entire campus. Today, the community's most memorable visual image of UCI is that of a forest of mature Eucalyptus Grandis trees. Well over 100 feet in height, they dominate the central academic core as well as views to the Central Campus. While some of the site's natural features have been retained, significant grading has occurred to provide for campus development and a large amount of exotic landscaping has been established with high water and maintenance demands. In addition, some open space corridors have been compromised to meet other development requirements.

Current Plans

The 1989 LRDP and LRDP EIR, as well as their implementing documents (such as the Campus Design Framework and Guidelines), build on this original landscape theme and advocate additional concepts which include:

• Emphasis on the use of native and drought tolerant species, particularly in outer campus areas.
• Development of open space corridors as habitat linkages as well as open space amenities for the campus.
• Continued use of landscape buffers at the campus perimeter and to physically separate land uses.
• Theme planting palettes specific to each academic quad in order to achieve individual place identity.
• A more comprehensive treatment of outdoor spaces including hardscape, street furnishings, and plant materials to achieve a unified urban design.

Development since 1989 has involved increased implementation of drought tolerant and native landscaping and initial efforts to develop campus arroyos as native plant habitat corridors. During UCI's rapid development in the late 1980's, however, compromises and inconsistencies related to planning objectives occurred. Recent resource constraints have highlighted the need for landscaping with lower water and maintenance requirements.

It is important to re-focus the management of UCI's existing urban forest and to improve the planning and implementation process for future development more consistently with current campus values, objectives, and priorities. The first phases of UCI's landscape development are reaching maturity and will require a sound management strategy for the long-term viability of this significant campus and regional asset. The outer campus areas remain largely undeveloped and require careful planning to ensure proper development. These conditions provide an excellent opportunity for a young campus to consider new, innovative approaches to the development and management of campus landscaping. The results will affect the overall visual image of the UCI campus for many years to come. Future managers and developers of the campus landscape must ensure that optimum resource values and functional design objectives are achieved as part of the campus' investment in the management and implementation of open space and landscape resources. Four planning and management goals with supporting objectives have been established:

Goal 1. Develop a landscape that is sustainable and provides for long term conservation of resources: energy, water, labor, and reduced production of green waste.

• Water Conservation—Utilize plant materials, design and planting techniques, and irrigation systems that minimize water usage.
• Plant Suitability—Use native and other environmentally suitable plant materials.
• Species and Age Diversity—Ensure both diversity of species and diversity of age in the urban forest. Trees of the same size and age tend to decline and die during the same period causing costly planning and maintenance problems and necessitating long periods of re-growth.
• De-Intensification of Eucalyptus Trees—Remove existing eucalyptus trees due to hazards or decline and replace with native and drought tolerant species which will introduce age diversity in the central campus.

Goal 2. Develop campus landscaping and open space networks that maximize local and regional natural resource values.

• Habitat Value—Utilize native plant materials that provide high wildlife foraging value.
• Habitat and Open Space Linkages—Develop habitat corridors utilizing UCI's historic drainage ways, or arroyos, that connect the campus with regional open space areas such as the San Joaquin Hills and the wetland areas of the Upper Newport Bay, San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh, and San Diego Creek. Protect existing habitat resources. Restore, as networks of corridors and habitat sites, the isolated patches and discontinuous landscape corridors that were created under the original LRDP development. This will benefit the campus and also support regional habitat planning goals.
• Preservation—Preserve natural features and environmentally significant areas. Retain the character of campus topography, ridge lines, view sheds, and vistas. Preserve historic landscape.

Goal 3. Develop landscaping that provides the greatest functional value consistent with comprehensive campus planning and design objectives.

• Maximize Functionality—Multiple functions, beyond aesthetic considerations, must be provided: define spaces, provide solar shading, define circulation elements, provide visual screening, reduce scale of monumental campus buildings, create public open spaces, and provide recreational amenities.
• Design Consistency—Implement campus landscape that is consistent with, and supports, campus planning and design objectives to provide a unifying framework, place identity, and human scale to the campus.
• Institutional Quality—Utilize plant materials, hardscape, and street furniture of institutional quality (i.e., long-lived, pest resistant, and durable).

Goal 4. While selection of appropriate plant materials and proper planting and irrigation techniques are crucial first steps in developing sustainable landscaping, it is equally important that adequate management programs are in place to preserve this asset.

• Pruning—Prune to remove hazards and to improve vigor and aesthetics.
• Fertilization—Environmentally responsible nutrient management to maintain plant health and reduce susceptibility to pests, diseases, and environmental stresses.
• Inspection—Scheduled inspections for overall health, safety, and appearance.
• Removal and Replacement—Even with good tree management, all trees will ultimately decline and require replacement. When removals are required, they are evaluated within these criteria: 1) dead or dying trees; 2) trees that pose a hazard to people or may cause significant damage to buildings, property, or hardscape; and 3) trees growing in undesirable locations.
• Protection—Control disease and pests through an integrated and environmentally responsible pest management program. Protect from physical hazards.
• Green Waste—To minimize waste and meet solid waste regulatory requirements, all trimmings should be processed into mulch and used to control weeds, control erosion, retain soil moisture, and provide nutrients.
• Habitat Areas—While habitat areas will generally require far less ongoing maintenance than more urban landscape areas, special management is required for protection of habitat value and for teaching and research activities in these areas.

• Green & Gold Plant List - 2018 Update