Laguna Canyon is an eight-mile gorge in the San Joaquin Hills of southern Orange County that forms a natural passage between Irvine and Laguna Beach. Created by an ancient stream cut and later left as a wind gap, it has its own drainage, seasonal waters, and habitats that support wildlife such as mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, mule deer, and many bird species. Long used by Native peoples as a route to the coast, it later supplied water to Laguna Beach. In the late twentieth century, public protest helped stop major development there, and much of the canyon became protected open space despite devastating wildfire in 1993.