Marsh Campus

The IRWD San Joaquin Marsh Campus opened in January 2009. The Campus is the embodiment of IRWD’s dedication to lifelong water education. The location of the Campus at the San Joaquin Marsh provides a wide variety of educational venues and teaching opportunities utilizing IRWD’s Natural Treatment System, the Butterfly Garden, and the San Diego Creek. See Marsh Campus Buildings Map.

The Campus is made up of several historic and restored ranch houses, the IRWD Duck Club and the new IRWD Learning Center. Explore the Related Content links below to learn more about these wonderful facilities. 

IRWD is committed to preserving the history of the Irvine Ranch. In cooperation with the Irvine Historical Society, The Irvine Company and the City of Irvine, IRWD has restored and preserved some of the original structures from the old Irvine Ranch. To learn more about today’s uses of these facilities; please visit the San Joaquin Marsh Campus.

One of the first historical refurbishment projects was an old ranch windmill which was slated to be demolished to make way for a freeway project. The windmill now sits at the entrance to the Michelson Water Recycling Plant. Click here for more history on the IRWD Windmill.

The three historic ranch houses that line the San Joaquin March Campus were built on the Irvine Ranch in the early 1900s. As the century neared its end, the houses were slated to be bulldozed to make room for modern homes and businesses in central Orange County. IRWD stepped in, moved the houses to the Marsh Campus site in 1990, and restored them. An additional historic ranch house was moved to IRWD’s Rattlesnake Reservoir to serve as the caretaker's house. These are the houses on the Marsh Campus:

The Marsh House: Built by the Spencer family circa 1915, the Irvine Ranch Marsh House was an early adopter of running water, using a motorized well pump. Once home to tenant orange growers, the house (pink) now is available as a venue for meetings and small events — free to residents and nonprofit groups in IRWD’s service area. Reserve a meeting room.

Caretaker’s House: Built circa 1905 for young Jimmy Irvine, this house was occupied instead by the Irvine family’s ranch warehouse manager. The house (green) now serves as a private home for IRWD’s on-site caretaker.

Sea and Sage House: Built circa 1900, this home was leased by farmer George O. Cook on a 17,000-acre lima bean field on the Irvine Ranch. The house (blue) serves as office space for Sea and Sage Audubon Society.

The IRWD Duck Club was originally home to two duck hunting clubs in Irvine, the Ricker-McHone and Old San Joaquin Duck Clubs. These two Duck Clubs operated until 1988 under permits from the Department of Fish and Game. Hunting at the Duck Club has not been permitted since that time. IRWD has preserved and expanded this historic building which today is available for public use. 

The IRWD Learning Center is designed to be a dedicated facility for water education in our community. The center features two classrooms and a patio that can be used for outdoor learning.