Sneak peek look gives glimpse at Randall Preserve progress

Look inland on a clear winter day while standing on the “west bluff,” and you can see the snow-capped mountains. Gaze toward the glistening ocean, and Catalina Island is in the distance, beyond the busy Pacific Coast Highway where cars zoom past between Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.

Read more Agate Street and Pearl Street stairs in Laguna Beach closed off after rockslide

In the not-so-distant future, the mesa offering this view in the Randall Preserve will be an elevated platform gathering place with telescopes to see osprey nests in the distance, complete with interpretive signs to educate visitors on the rare and endangered species living in the surrounding fragile habitat.

“It’s one of the best lookouts on the property,” said Paul Waggoner, community engagement manager for the Coastal Corridor Alliance. “It’s almost transportive. You’re in the middle of the built environment, and then all of a sudden it opens up to this beautiful landscape.”

A recent rare look at the 387-acre preserve between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach offered an update on progress preparing Orange County’s last big coastal open space to be an oasis open to the public.

Previously known as Banning Ranch until a $50 million donation from Frank and Joann Randall helped supercharge efforts to purchase the former oil field to prevent its development and keep it natural open space, the preserve is made up of rolling hills, vast greenery and views of the blue Pacific Ocean. Going back to the 1940s, it had been tapped for oil production, with some 400 oil wells operating at one point.

“It’s quite big and usually when people come out here, they realize more of what the size is really like. It’s amazing out here,” said Waggoner.

Cleanup of the former oil field finally purchased in 2022 is ongoing, but if all goes to plan, the first public visitors could be touring the land by 2028, officials said.

It will be a slow rollout, with monthly small group tours of no more than 10 people at first, then every weekend, and so on, with each step studied to document the human footprint on the land, planners said.

“We’re hoping to train people about the reserve before we just swing the door wide open,” said Melanie Schlotterbeck, a consultant managing the Randall Preserve planning process for the Coastal Corridor Alliance.

Managers of the open space talked about near- and long-term work to be done, with the tour being a kickoff for more fundraising efforts, including in hopes of creating “unified visitor experiences” by connecting Sunset Ridge Park in Newport Beach and the Talbert Nature Preserve in Costa Mesa, together making up 1,000 acres of open space.

“That’s one of the main things that we’re working for, is envisioning what a unified visitor experience would be like out here with one trail system from Fairview Park, all the way down to PCH, moving between properties under different property managers, but a visitor would not know the difference,”  Waggoner said.

Such a connection could cost $350,000.

Schlotterbeck said another study the team is gearing up to do will be on what impacts El Niño may have on the mesa and the lowlands.

Planners hope to raise an estimated $300,000 to finish other visioning work, while a habitat restoration plan could cost upward of $1 million.

Workers are busy removing invasive plants to restore the natural habitat and oil cleanup continues on the property, which remains fenced off to the public.

“We don’t care how long it takes, because we want it clean,” Schlotterbeck said. “We don’t want anything hazardous left behind. If it takes two years, or five years, that’s OK.”

Read more Check out our Register photographers’ favorite images from September 2026

Planning for public amenities also continues, down to whether to use concrete or wood benches throughout the site, officials said.

“This gives us a chance to get community feedback on something we haven’t yet heard about,” Schlotterbeck said. “The good news is, people love visiting parks and telling us exactly what they liked and what they didn’t like.”

About 26 miles of packed dirt roadway will be cut down to 5 miles of public trails. The first planned trail will be a one-mile hiking loop, Schlotterbeck said. A parking area for about 100 cars is planned off 17th Street for easy access.

There are an estimated 45 rare, sensitive, threatened and endangered species on the property so balancing their preservation with public access will be key.

“It’s a very high concentration, and that commitment to study additional things – birds, wildlife, sensitive plant species, insects, reptiles, vernal pools, you name it –  we gotta study it, if it’s next to one of our planned trails,” Schlotterbeck said. “And that’s the only reason we have our property management plan approved. Because we committed to ensuring that the reason this area was protected, the plants and animals, would be maintained in perpetuity.”

What won’t be found on the trails are bikes or dogs, Schlotterbeck noted.

“Some of us even have dogs. But the reality is, dogs change the behavior of wildlife species, even if they’re well behaved and on a leash. Just the fact that they go to the bathroom changes the behavior of wild animals,” she said. “This place is so sensitive. That was something we had to compromise with in order to get approval of the plans.”

There are 61 vernal pools on the property that are home to a federally endangered crustacean, fairy shrimp, which “allows us the opportunity to protect and maybe even create educational components around,” Schlotterbeck said, noting that with forecasted El Niño, that number could increase because the species thrives in water.

“All of these studies will lead up to restoration on the property. So if we know that gnat catchers are found in this area, we want to make sure that we’re creating habitat that’s appropriate for those species,” she said.

During the multi-year planning process, planners received more than 2,000 comments from the public, Waggoner said.

“All of those plans have been completed and have been recently adopted by the (Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority) in early August,”  Waggoner said. “We’re super excited to have gotten past that first big finish line, which now opens us up to many more plans and strategies of all sorts.”

Shelley Hoss, CEO of the Orange County Community Foundation, talked about the important work being done to preserve the region’s open space. The foundation was able to donate $200,000 to the project through an endowment fund dedicated to preserving endangered species.

“What a special privilege it is to be reminded of Orange County’s incredibly unique biodiversity,” she said. “I’m always amazed when we find these pockets, these green spaces, these protected habitats.”

In all her years passing by the property that has become the Randall Preserve, Hoss said she always looked toward the ocean, never knowing the gem of open space on the other side.

“I never knew this was here. Most of us drive up and down and none of us look inland, to see the other side, to see what is here,” she said. “I’m so excited to know more people will be invited here to experience this.”

Read more Swiss glaciers lose over 5% of ice volume in 2026 as heat waves, low winter snow accelerate thaw