According to UC Irvine's 1963 land use plan, the Irvine Ranch site designated for the campus consisted of rolling hills and a “complete absence of trees.” The former cattle ranch lands were covered in naturalized and native grasses with pockets of coastal sage scrub. To mirror the land’s natural topography, the campus buildings were arranged around an urban forest located at the heart of the campus.

The 16-acre Aldrich Park (named in 1984 after UCI’s first chancellor, Daniel G. Aldrich) is today part of a campus-wide urban forest consisting of 30,000 trees.