The Orange County Department of Education will break ground Oct. 6 on a $21 million environmental education center at Rancho Soñado. The canyon property was largely destroyed in the December 2020 Bond Fire.
The new Rancho Soñado Inside the Outdoors Education Center will restore the site as a hub for hands-on environmental learning. Plans call for new classrooms, outdoor teaching spaces, an amphitheater, improved access and extensive wildfire-safety features.
Rancho Soñado became the official home of OCDE’s Inside the Outdoors program in 2006. More than 100,000 students visited the property before the fire to learn science by exploring local ecosystems.
The Bond Fire destroyed two of the site’s three structures and killed many of the program’s animal ambassadors. Among the buildings lost was the on-site residence of Inside the Outdoors Operations Manager Stephanie Smith, who had lived at Rancho Soñado for nearly 20 years. Smith and her family evacuated as the flames approached.
Inside the Outdoors kept serving students after the fire. Over more than five decades, the program has reached more than 3.5 million young learners.
OCDE officials said the rebuild marks a return to a place of deep meaning for program staff and the generations of students who learned there, while creating a more resilient center for the future.
