Nature area

Several acres of the Heritage Museum property have been set aside as a nature reserve. Most of the area is relatively undeveloped, although some of our educational programs use portions of it.

The area is home to a variety of animal and bird life, including squirrels, mice, opossums, coyotes, lizards, gopher snakes, and red-tailed hawks. In wet years when the small seasonal pond remains full for a period of time, ducks and egrets sometimes stop to visit.

There are two fresh water wetland areas, the last such wetlands in Santa Ana. One is the pond mentioned above, the other a larger marsh (labeled “swamp” on some of our signs) at the far eastern edge of the property. However, the extended southern California drought and continuing development on adjacent land have lowered the water table and made visible water in both of these areas a rarity. An effort to rehabilitate the pond by making it deeper and removing non-native plants that had become established along its edges is currently underway.

A recent addition to the nature reserve is a gold mine set used as part of our Gold Rush tour for fourth graders. It includes a mine shaft, a mine car on tracks, and a head frame that feeds water to a small stream where children pan for “Heritage Gold.”