Santa Cruz Island

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NASA satellite image of Santa Cruz Island.

Santa Cruz Island is the largest privately owned island off the continental United States. The island, located off the coast of California, is 22 miles (35 km) long and from 2 to 6 miles (3 to 10 km) wide. It is part of the northern group of the Channel Islands of California, and at 61,764.6 acres (249.95 km² or 96.507 sq mi) is the largest of the eight islands in the chain. Santa Cruz Island is located within Santa Barbara County. The coastline has steep cliffs, gigantic sea caves, coves, and sandy beaches. Defined by the United States Census Bureau as Block 3000, Block Group 3, Census Tract 29.10 of Santa Barbara County, California, the 2000 census showed an official population of 2 persons. ^[1] Highest peak is Devils Peak, at 2450+ feet (747+ m).

A central valley splits the island along the Santa Cruz Island Fault, with volcanic rock on the north and older sedimentary rock on the south.

Three-fourths of Santa Cruz has been owned by The Nature Conservancy since 1987, when it was willed to that group by owner Carey Stanton. The remaining fourth once belonged to the Gherini family and is now part of the Channel Islands National Park. Santa Cruz boasts the most diverse of habitats in the sanctuary.

Santa Cruz is the only place where the endemic Island Scrub Jay is found.

1 Introduced & Invasive Species
2 Reintroduced Bald Eagles
3 External links
4 References

Golden Eagle (invader)-displaced the native bald eagle, and hunted island foxes to threatened status.
Fennel (introduced)-Served as cover for Island Foxes, but as forage for the feral pigs.
Feral Pigs (Introduced)-displaced native island foxes.

Bald Eagles were once numerous on California's Channel Islands. Because of eggshell thinning caused by DDT and other factors, the last known successful Bald Eagle nesting in the northern Channel Islands was in 1949. By the 1960s Bald Eagles could no longer be found on any of the Channel Islands.

The Institute for Wildlife Studies started a program in 2002 to reintroduce Bald Eagles to the Channel Islands, funded by money from a $25 million fund to deal with the lingering effects of tons of DDT dumped by the Montrose Chemical Corporation into the ocean near Santa Catalina Island. Since June 2002 46 young bald eagles have been released on Santa Cruz Island. On 17 March 2006 wildlife biologists for the Institute announced that for the first time in over 50 years there has been a successful hatching on Santa Cruz Island. [1] [2] [3]