1. History
    Early history  Mexican land grant  Vail Ranch  Recent history  National park 

2. CSUCI Santa Rosa Island Research Station

3. Ecology and climate

4. Gallery

5. See also

6. References

7. Further reading

8. External links

The terrain consists of rolling hills, deep canyons, and a coastal lagoon. Highest peak is Vail Peak, at {{convert|1589|ft|m}}. The Chumash, a Native American people lived on the Channel Islands at the time of European contact. They called the driftwood wimal that washed up on the sandy beaches from the channel currents. The logs were used to build tomols (plank canoes). Santa Rosa Island is home to the rare Torrey Pine, a species of pine tree that exists only in two locations around the world.

Recreational activities on Santa Rosa Island include kayaking, camping and hiking. A private boat charter company offers a number of trips to the island year round, and camping reservations can be made through Channel Islands National Park offices in Ventura, California. A year-round charter flight service is available from Camarillo Airport for hikers and campers to Santa Rosa Island. Defined by the United States Census Bureau as Block 3009, Block Group 3, Census Tract 29.10 of Santa Barbara County, California.

History

Early history

During the last ice age, the four northern Channel Islands, including Santa Rosa Island, were conjoined into Santa Rosae, a single island that was only five miles (8 km) off the coast. In 1960, archaeologists discovered the remains of 13,000-year-old Arlington Springs Man, among the oldest human remains in the Americas, on the island. The remains of pygmy mammoths (Mammuthus exilis), which appear to have gone extinct about 13,000 years ago, have also been excavated there.^[3][4] The ancestors of the Chumash Indians lived on Santa Rosa for many thousands of years, establishing numerous village sites along the coast and in the interior. Recent research has documented the presence of maritime Paleocoastal peoples on the island at least 12,000 years ago.^[5]

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's crew visited the island after his death, and found three Chumash villages, containing a total of 40-50 people. They called their island Wima, but George Vancouver listed it as Santa Rosa on his 1792 chart. Franciscan missionaries baptized a large number in 1822 and most were removed to their Mission Santa Barbara and Mission San Buenaventura by the late 1820s.^[6]{{rp|55–56}}

Mexican land grant

George Nidever hunted sea otters for their pelts in the late 1830s and 1840s, under a license granted by the Mexican government to William Dana.^[6]{{rp|57}}

Governor Manuel Micheltorena made a Mexican land grant of the island of Santa Rosa to brothers José Antonio Carrillo and Carlos Antonio Carrillo in 1843. They gave the island to Carlos daughters, Manuela Carrillo de Jones and Francisca Carrillo de Thompson. Their husbands - John Coffin Jones (1796–1861) and Alpheus Basil Thompson (1795–1869) - entered into a partnership to manage the island. A claim was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852,^[6] but the grant was not patented to Manuela Carrillo de Jones and Francisca Carrillo de Thompson until 1871,^[7] though a district court confirmed clear title in 1856. Then, the Thompson-Jones partnership started to come apart in 1857. By 1870, the More brothers, consisting of Thomas Wallace (T.W.), Alexander (A.P.), and Henry had bought out all of the interests, and A.P. and Henry became joint owners of the island. They transformed the island into a large sheep ranch, with headquarters at Bechers Bay.^[6]{{rp|58–63}}

Vail Ranch

The More family sold the island to Walter L. Vail and John V. Vickers in 1902. The Vail and Vickers Company transformed the sheep ranch into a cattle fattening operation.^[6]{{rp|67–90}}

Recent history

The United States Army leased 46 acres for a radar post during WW II, and erected 16 buildings for 75 men, between Jan. and Aug. 1943. The site was abandoned after the end of the war. The United States Air Force built a 200-man, early-warning radar site in 1952 during the Cold War. At the same time, the United States Navy built a communication station on 4.5 acres on Navy Hill, to track missiles launched from Point Mugu NAS. The Air Force cancelled its lease in 1963.^[6]{{rp|93–95}}

National park

In 1980, Santa Rosa Island was included within Channel Islands National Park over the objections of Vail & Vickers, which then successfully lobbied to have the legislation stipulate that purchase of their land would be the highest priority of the Channel Islands National Park. Vail & Vickers sold the island in 1986 for nearly $30 million. Subsequently, the National Park Service issued a series of five-year renewable special use permits. Threatened lawsuits in 1996 resulted in a settlement agreement, which included the end of all hunting and ranching operations, such that only one steer remained by 1998. The Vails 25 year use and occupancy agreement ended in December 2011.^[8]{{rp|96–97}}

In 2006 U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) introduced a provision into the annual defense policy bill that would allow disabled veterans to continue hunting elk on the island past 2011, without the consent of Vail & Vickers or the National Park Service. The provision stayed in the bill and was signed into law by President George W. Bush. This legislation was repealed by the next Congress as part of the FY 2007 Omnibus appropriations bill,^[9] also signed into law by President George W. Bush.

Douglas Hughes, a California governor candidate in 2010, proposed that sex offenders be moved to the island if they opt not to leave California or remain in prison.^[10][11]

CSUCI Santa Rosa Island Research Station

In November 2012 the National Park Service (NPS) issued a permit to California State University, Channel Islands (CSUCI) to operate a field research station on Santa Rosa Island. The mission of the CSUCI Santa Rosa Island Research Station (SRIRS) is "to encourage and advance the interdisciplinary knowledge and stewardship of our natural and cultural resources through long-term research, inquiry-based education, and public outreach. (...) (and) to react energetically, adeptly, and successfully to our changing natural and human landscapes.", according to a 2014 statement.^[12]

Ecology and climate

A variety of the Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana var. insularis) grows on the island. The population of this endangered species is estimated at approximately 1000 trees. The island oak (Quercus tomentella) is native to the island.

Flightless geese, giant mice and pygmy mammoths are extinct, while the island fox, spotted skunk, and munchkin dudleya (Dudleya gnoma)^[13] (one of the six endemic plant species on the island) still live there. The island is home to one of only three known populations of Hoffman's rockcress.^[14]

Its surrounding waters serve as an invaluable nursery for the sea life that feeds larger marine mammals and seabirds. Great white sharks are fairly common in the northern Channel Islands (especially San Miguel and Santa Rosa) and feed on the abundant marine mammals.

The rare endemic lichen Caloplaca obamae, discovered in 2007 and described by Kerry Knudsen in 2009, commemorates United States President Barack Obama.

Santa Rosa Island has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb in the Koeppen climate classification). In winter, frosts are almost unknown, and in summer cool fogs make heat waves rare. The large majority of the rain falls from December to March. Annual precipitation totals are about 15 inches on the coast to almost 20 inches on the higher slopes. Summers are dry except for fog drizzle.

Gallery

See also

• Index: Flora of the Channel Islands of California
• Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

References

Further reading

• U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Survey. (1975). Bathymetric map: California, southwest of Santa Rosa Island [Scale 1:250,000 ; transverse Mercator proj. (W 140°—W 120°/N 56°—N 48°)]. Washington, D.C.: author.
• Statement of Timothy B. Vail, D.V.M On behalf of Vail & Vickers Company Santa Rosa Island, California before the Subcommittee on National Parks of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Legislative Hearing on S. 1209 Held on May 15, 2007

External links

• Channel Islands National Park website —by the National Park Service.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040810185539/http://www.west.net/~scifmail/rosahist.html Santa Cruz Island Foundation: History of Santa Cruz Island]

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