North Irvine is the city's "gateway to the great outdoors." Within the combined 8,500 acres, there are more than 5,700 acres slated for open space preservation and recreation. Building upon the City's historic Open Space Agreement of 1988, a phased dedication program is included for the associated open space to be permanently preserved. The plans for North Irvine incorporate new open space implementation districts that will ensure the dedication of preserved open space for perpetual public ownership as lands designated for development are built.

In addition, North Irvine will provide public connections to more than 9,300 acres of preserved wildlands on The Irvine Ranch®, which comprises more than 50,000 acres of natural open space, parks and trails stretching form the Cleveland National Forest to the Pacific Ocean.

In October 2006, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior designated The Irvine Ranch National Natural Landmark (NNL)-a 37,000-acre expanse of land singled out for its nationally significant scientific values. The NNL lands are owned by the County of Orange, City of Irvine, The Irvine Company, The Nature Conservancy and California State Parks. They are filled with unusual and rare geological characteristics tracing Earth's history back 80 million years. Also rich in biology, they protect a wide variety of plants and animals, some endangered and others found nowhere else on Earth.

The city's northern open space will be linked to open space in the southern region by the Jeffrey Open Space Trail - a recreation and open space corridor park along Jeffrey Road. When completed in tandem with community development, the trail will travel through Irvine along the east side of Jeffrey Road, creating a recreation corridor journeying from the foothills north of Irvine to the Pacific Ocean. The Jeffrey Open Space Trail also will provide links to trails leading to the city's planned Great Park at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, and the 50-acre Gateway Park situated at the end of the Jeffrey Trail.

North Irvine's neighborhoods will also be linked via an extensive network of trails with existing and planned trails and parks throughout the city. These include existing Hicks Canyon Trail, which runs from North Irvine to Peters Canyon Wash near east Orange.