Bren provided to Irvine schools in 2000. According to Tim Shaw, former chief executive officer of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation, the annual gift "seeded the strong public support of elementary arts, music and science instruction." Conservation In March 2009, he was ranked 9th in The (London) Sunday Times' "Green Rich List"- a list of the 100 wealthiest people, who have either invested in green technology/businesses or made large contributions to environmental causes. Bren's placement on the list was due to his $20 million in donations to UC Santa Barbara's School of Environmental Science. Throughout a 30-year time span, Bren donated of land to be used for parks, greenways, recreation and wilderness preserves. The donated land fulfills Bren's plans and commitment to preserve more than 50-percent of historic Irvine Ranch of . Of this, were designated as the Irvine Ranch National Natural Landmark. During the 2006 ceremony at Crystal Cove State Park to celebrate this designation, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said "it is really a spectacular gift that [Bren's] given to [California]. Donald Bren is...the ultimate of generosity. Not only what he contributes to the environment, but what he contributes continuously to the community, if it is in education, if it is in arts, if it is music, if it is the environment, the 10s of millions of dollars he's invested in the environment, to protect the environment. He's an extraordinary man." In 2008, the state of California also designated the land as the first California Natural Landmark because of the land's ecological value. The protected land, once a part of Irvine Ranch, is operated by The Irvine Ranch Conservancy. Recently, Bren completed his pledge to set aside more than 50,000 acres of the original 93,000-acre ranch as open space by designating 20,000 acres (81 km2) to Orange County, California, as an open-space and parklands gift in June 2010. The gift was accepted in a unanimous decision by the Orange County Board of Supervisors and was the largest donation of private property to public ownership in Orange County history. In a ceremony in the same year, he was recognized for donating more than 20,000 acres of pristine wilderness that he gave to Orange County, asking only that it remain open space forever. In August 2014, the Irvine Company announced plans to donate and preserve 2,500 additional acres of land previously approved for housing, bringing the preserved lands of the Irvine