About Us
Mission Statement
Our mission is to offer innovative approaches to land management and environmental education that will influence the way Orange County citizens appreciate, conserve, and manage wildlands. We seek to instill a love of nature through education programs that involve people of all ages in wildlife research and to provide a model of rigorous, sustainable land management through applied research.
Location
Starr Ranch Sanctuary is a 4,000 acre preserve owned and operated by the National Audubon Society. It is located in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains in the mild and semiarid mediterranean climate of southeastern Orange County, California, approximately 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
The Ranch lies in unincorporated Orange County and is bordered by the Cleveland National Forest on the north and east, the Ronald W. Caspers Regional Park on the south and the developments of Dove Canyon and Coto de Caza on the west. The larger community of Rancho Santa Margarita is 3 miles northwest of the Sanctuary, and the city of San Juan Capistrano is 10 miles to the southwest.
Personnel
Starr Ranch is staffed by Manager Pete DeSimone (pdesimone@audubon.org); Director of Research and Education, Sandy DeSimone (sdesimone@audubon.org); Justin Shew (jshew@audubon.org), Biologist-Educator for Bird Programs; Josie Weir (jweir@audubon.org), Administrative Assistant; and Ward Provance, Ranch Maintenance.
