Channel Islands National Park

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Out on the horizon,
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a distant world shimmers.
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Five islands and the seas around them.
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A wilderness protected by wind and waves.
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It is a place of solitude and adventure.
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A glimpse of what California used to be.
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Out past the edge of the continent,
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out on the edge of the imagination, this lost world beckons.
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Off the coast of southern California lie a group of islands cloaked in mist.
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Channel Islands National Park.
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It’s just a short boat ride from one of the most populated regions on Earth.
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But few travel here, out where the mainland ends.
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Those who do
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find a remarkable refuge. Half land,
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half water.
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Isolated, but overflowing with life.
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Five islands and the sea that guards them.
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Anacapa,
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jutting out of the sea. Craggy and volcanic
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with its iconic Arch Rock,
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the historic lighthouse,
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and wildflowers that bring the rocky soil to life.
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Santa Cruz,
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the largest and most of diverse of them all. A rough, mountainous island cut by a massive fault line.
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Home to nearly 60 plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth.
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And for the many visitors who come from the mainland,
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it is an island playground.
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Santa Rosa,
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a landscape that rolls from the mountains to the marshes,
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sheltering rare Torrey Pines,
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weathered sandstone canyons,
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and vestiges of a ranching past.
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San Miguel,
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an island of extremes.
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Wild, windy, and remote,
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where isolated beaches protect one of the largest rookeriess
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of seals and sea lions in the world.
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And ancient dunes reveal the caliche forest,
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fossilized trees from long ago.
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Santa Barbara, the tiny tableland.
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A mesa framed by twin peaks, and steep rock faces.
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Where stunning wildflowers and nesting seabirds draw the occasional visitor from the distant mainland.
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And all around,
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an underwater national park.
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A mile of sea on the fringes of the land.
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One of the planet’s great marine ecosystems,
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flowing with life.
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Harsh and lonely.
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There is nothing easy about life on these islands,
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yet people have been drawn here for over 13,000 years.
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Some of the oldest human remains known in North America
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were discovered here.
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The native Chumash people were one of the
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most advanced societies of their time.
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They developed a complex society,
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trading with the mainland in plank canoes, and using shell beads for money.
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For thousands of years, they flourished.
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Then, in 1542, the Spaniards arrived
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led by explorer
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Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo.
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But the meeting of European
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and native cultures
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would be tragic.
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The Chumash were exposed to new diseases, like the measles and smallpox ,
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that devastated their populations.
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By the mid- 1800s, the Chumash were forced from their island homes
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and into missions along the coast.
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Despite these hardships,
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the Chumash people have never given up their connection to this island homeland.
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In time, others would come,
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drawn by the rich resources:
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Otter hunters, fishermen,
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sheep and cattle ranchers.
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Some manned the islands as military outposts.
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Others ran the beacons to guide vessels through hazardous seas.
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Over the years, the reasons for valuing these islands changed.
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A new approach to stewardship would emerge,
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to restore and protect them,
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creating a national park,
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an international biosphere reserve,
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and a national marine sanctuary.
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A place of research and recreation,
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attracting a new type of traveler.
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It’s only an hour from the freeways of southern California,
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but when visitors arrive, they can tell
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this is a different world.
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Millions of people may live less than a hundred miles away,
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but here, you are alone.
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This craggy coastline offers a chance to experience the land the way it once was.
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The original California.
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Female hiker : “Our family goes camping on the
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Channel Islands
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to get away from it all.
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There’s just something about this place. It feels so wild, so remote,
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like you’re in your own world.”
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Narrator: This is the rugged charm of these lonely islands.
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The vistas to be discovered,
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the journeys waiting to be undertaken.
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It’s a place of jagged beauty
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where calm restores the spirit.
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A quiet corner of the world.
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Despite their closeness to the coast,
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these islands have never been connected to the mainland.
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This isolation has fostered the development of plants and animals that
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exist nowhere else on the planet.
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Nearly 150 unique species of flora and fauna.
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Like the island fox,
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one of the rarest mammals in North America.
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The Torrey pines and the island oak,
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some of the most distinctive trees in the world.
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And the island scrub-jay,
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found only on Santa Cruz Island.
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These isolated Channel
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Islands have been their refuge,
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with miles of ocean to protect them,
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strong winds and rough seas to shield them.
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It starts in the waves themselves,
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a rich web of life that reaches up from the sea.
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Here, the cold currents of the north Pacific collide with
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the warm waters of the south,
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and combined with a great upwelling of nutrients from the ocean floor.
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A living soup develops that supports more than 2,000 species
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from tiny plankton,
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to giant whales.
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It’s one of the most diverse marine environments on Earth.
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No wonder divers and swimmers from all over the world come here.
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It’s like swimming in a great aquarium.
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Others come looking for adventure along the coast,
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to explore some of the largest sea caves on Earth,
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the rock cathedrals,
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where the ceilings soar.
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Kayaker: “They call this the Painted Cave .
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It’s here on the edge of Santa Cruz Island.
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It’s an incredible setting.
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Paddling through the water here lets me experience
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the park in a completely different way.
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I become immersed in the sea,
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intimate with the coastline and the marine life.”
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Narrator: Life flourishes at the boundary between land and sea,
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where tidepools
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support a rich tapestry of life.
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It’s a place between two worlds, half land, half liquid,
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battered by the waves
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and baked by the sun. It’s a world of extremes.
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And those who come to visit find an entire universe at their feet.
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This land -sea connection provides a refuge for birds as well.
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They arrive in large numbers,
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drawn by the isolation,
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the lack of predators, and the food.
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For thousands of sea birds traveling the Pacific,
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these little pieces of land are key for survival.
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Year after year, they come to breed,
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to nest in secluded rookeries.
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Pelicans and cormorants,
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oystercatchers and western gulls.
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This abundance of wildlife doesn’t just make these islands an enjoyable place to visit.
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For scientists,
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it’s a living laboratory,
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a place to see how a small fragile pool species
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can change and adapt.
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And in this laboratory,
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research is under way
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in the giant kelp forest.
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This is not just any seaweed.
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This is a great rainforest beneath the waves.
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Giant kelp is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth,
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growing up to two feet a day.
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Below the surface, light plays through these great strands like shafts of sunlight through stained glass.
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But a quiet crisis is brewing here.
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Many of the magnificent animals in the kelp forest
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have disappeared, as a result of overfishing
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and a changing environment.
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Since the 1980s, teams of researchers have been diving here
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to monitor the undersea life
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and track exactly how it’s doing.
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Female Scientist: “Some creatures, like the abalone, were prevalent just a few decades ago.
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but now, they’re rare.
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That’s why this work is so important. To protect the ecosystem, you have
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pay attention. You have to know its health.
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That’s why we’re so committed to this work.”
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Narrator: This is all part of the longest running monitoring program in the national parks,
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the model many others are based on.
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Because this data is so extensive,
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it was used to help establish marine reserves,
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underwater refuges closed to fishing.
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And the results are encouraging. There are now more fish, and bigger fish,
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in these reserves.
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For all the changes these submarine forests continue to harbor
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a remarkable range of underwater life,
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nearly a thousand species of plants and animals.
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Scientists have also been documenting an amazing story of recovery and renewal
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in one of the most isolated regions of the park.
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San Miguel Island.
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It is something that could have only occurred in a place as remote
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and protected as this.
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It was here that the northern elephant seal was hunted
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to near extinction less than a century ago.
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Today, however, things are different.
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It is one of the world’s great wildlife displays.
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Tens of thousands of seals and sea lions are coming ashore, as they do each year.
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The world’s largest congregation of northern elephant seals, northern fur seals, harbor seals, and California sea lions all haul up on these sandy beaches to breed, pup, and molt.
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Scientists will occasionally venture into the rookery to study their behavior
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and monitor their health.
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Scientist: “It’s been pretty awesome
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to witness this steady population increase for three decades.
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It’s a fairly uplifting thing because we’ve
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also been studying other animals
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that have been added to the endangered species list.
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So it’s been pretty wonderful to watch this.
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Narrator: There aren’t many places left in North America like this,
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places secluded and inaccessible,
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places that these animals can call home.
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Scientist: “There’s been a tremendous value of having
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these islands protected,
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remote, even though we’ve got fifteen million people less
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than a hundred miles away.
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The fact that these habitats were here
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is the key factor
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in their population success and recovery.”
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Narrator: Our national parks protect places like the Channel Islands,
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offering a new approach to managing this fragile ecosystem,
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one that is still recovering
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from the unintended consequences of an earlier era.
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Like the introduction of non-native animals,
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which altered the islands,
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devastating native plants and animals.
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Over time, these non-native species have been removed,
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and in just a few decades,
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the islands have begun to turn a corner.
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Signs of recovery can be seen
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on islands from Santa Barbara to San Miguel.
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Two of the great success stories are the recovery of island foxes
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and bald eagles.
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Not long ago, the island fox was on the brink of extinction,
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with only 14 left on Santa Rosa,
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and 15 on San Miguel.
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And bald eagles had disappeared from the Channel Islands altogether.
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Then a program to re-establish both species gradually rebuilt their populations.
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Now both species are back from the edge of extinction
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and out in the wild again. And they are not alone.
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The once endangered northern elephant seals, California brown pelicans, peregrine falcons,
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and island plant communities are all recovering
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in this protected habitat as well.
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The National Park Service is also studying and preserving important vestiges of our past,
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to provide a greater understanding
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of how people have adapted to these islands
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for over 13,000 years.
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From the long and unique tradition of island ranching,
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to the shipwrecks
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that reveal a maritime heritage,
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to the earliest traces of the first island people.
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All are preserved by this national park.
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And today, those who trace their heritage to the islands
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still feel the pull of this place.
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Native Chumash Woman: “Our ancestors came from these islands,
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and each time we come back, we can feel their presence here.
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We walk in their same footsteps through this unspoiled natural landscape.
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It’s wonderful to know that our children will be able to come back
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and know the beauty and significance of this place.”
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Narrator: And so today, the Channel Islands beckon us.
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175 miles of untouched coastline.
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The opportunity to see a vibrant world
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teeming with life.
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To make sure it stays that way
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is a mission that continues.
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To hold this land in trust for the generations to follow.
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This is the calling of Channel Islands National Park.
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For all, a place to study and cherish,
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a place to experience and enjoy,
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a place to conserve.
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Out past the edge of the continent, it waits,
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guarded by the wind and the waves,
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this island world, a wilderness shimmering on the horizon.
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