Santa Cruz Island
Encyclopedia
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....
owns 76%). The island, located off the coast of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, is 22 miles (35.4 km) long and from 2 to 6 mi (3.2 to 9.7 km) wide. It is part of the northern group of the Channel Islands of California
Channel Islands of California
The Channel Islands of California are a chain of eight islands located in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California along the Santa Barbara Channel in the United States of America...
, and at 61764.6 acres (250 km²) is the largest of the eight islands in the chain. Santa Cruz Island is located within Santa Barbara County, California
Santa Barbara County, California
Santa Barbara County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, on the Pacific coast. As of 2010 the county had a population of 423,895. The county seat is Santa Barbara and the largest city is Santa Maria.-History:...
. The coastline has steep cliffs, gigantic sea caves
Sea caves
A sea cave, also known as a littoral cave, is a type of cave formed primarily by the wave action of the sea. The primary process involved is erosion. Sea caves are found throughout the world, actively forming along present coastlines and as relict sea caves on former coastlines...
, cove
Cove
A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often inside a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves...
s, and sandy beaches. Defined by the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
as Block 3000, Block Group 3, Census Tract
Census tract
A census tract, census area, or census district is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Usually these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exist within a county...
29.10 of Santa Barbara County, the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
showed an official population of two persons. The 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.
Santa Cruz is the only place where the Island Scrub Jay
Island Scrub Jay
The Island Scrub-Jay or Island Jay is one of the species of Aphelocoma native to North America and is endemic to Santa Cruz Island off the coast of Southern California...
is found.
Early history
Archaeological investigations indicate that Santa Cruz Island has been occupied for at least 9,000 years. People of the Chumash Indian tribeIndian tribe
In the United States, a Native American tribe is any extant or historical tribe, band, nation, or other group or community of Indigenous peoples in the United States...
lived on the island and developed a highly complex society dependent on marine harvest, craft specialization and trade with the mainland population. The Santa Cruz Island Chumash produced shell beads that they used for currency, which formed an important part of the overall Chumash economy. Native villagers had no known contact with Europeans until the 16th and early 17th centuries. Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was a Portuguese explorer noted for his exploration of the west coast of North America on behalf of Spain. Cabrillo was the first European explorer to navigate the coast of present day California in the United States...
, who is credited with the first European exploration of the California coast, observed at least six villages, though he and his crew did not come ashore. Cabrillo named the island San Lucas, although the Chumash called it Limuw.
In 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno
Sebastián Vizcaíno
Sebastián Vizcaíno was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain, the Philippines, the Baja California peninsula, the California coast and Japan.-Early career:...
led the last Spanish expedition to California. His map named Santa Cruz Island the Isla de Gente Barbuda (island of the bearded people). Between 1602 and 1769 there was no recorded European contact with the island. Finally, in 1769, the land-and-sea expedition of Don Gaspar de Portolà
Gaspar de Portolà
Gaspar de Portolà i Rovira was a soldier, governor of Baja and Alta California , explorer and founder of San Diego and Monterey. He was born in Os de Balaguer, province of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain, of Catalan nobility. Don Gaspar served as a soldier in the Spanish army in Italy and Portugal...
reached Santa Cruz Island. Traveling with him were Father Juan González Vizcaíno and Father Francisco Palóu
Francisco Palóu
Francesc Palou was a Franciscan missionary, administrator, and historian on the Baja California peninsula and in Alta California. Father Palou's made significant contributions to the Alta California and Baja California mission systems...
. Father Palóu wrote of Father Vizcaíno’s visit to the Santa Cruz village of Xaxas that the missionaries on ship went ashore and “they were well received by the heathen and presented with fish, in return for which the Indians were given some strings of beads.” The island was considered for establishment of a Catholic mission
Spanish missions in California
The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious and military outposts established by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to spread the Christian faith among the local Native Americans. The missions represented the first major effort by Europeans to...
to serve the large Chumash population. When Mission San Buenaventura
Mission San Buenaventura
Mission San Buenaventura was founded on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1782 in Las Californias, part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain. Named for a Franciscan theologian, Saint Bonaventure, it was the last of the missions founded by Father Serra...
was founded across the channel in 1782, it commenced the slow religious conversion of the Santa Cruz Chumash. In 1822, the last of the Chumash left the island for mainland California.
With Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821, the Mexican government asserted its control over California. In an effort to increase the Mexican presence, the government began sending convicted criminals to populate many areas. Around 40 prisoners were sent to Santa Barbara where, upon arrival, they were sent to Santa Cruz Island. They lived for a short time in an area now known as Prisoners Harbor.
Mexican land grant
Governor Juan Alvarado made a Mexican land grantRanchos of California
The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...
of the Island of Santa Cruz to his aide Captain Andrés Castillero in 1839. When California became a state in 1850, the United States government, through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...
, required that land previously granted by Spanish and Mexican governments be proved before the Board of Land Commissioners
Public Land Commission
The Public Land Commission, a former agency of the United States government, was created following the admission of California as a state in 1850 . The Commission's purpose was to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican land grants in California.California Senator William M...
. A claim was filed with the Land Commission in 1852, confirmed by the US Supreme Court and the grant was patented to Andrés Castillero in 1867. For twelve years Castillero’s claim to Santa Cruz Island was disputed, even after his property had been sold. During Castillero’s ownership, Dr. James B. Shaw, an English physician, acted as manager of the island. He built the island’s first ranch house by 1855 and is thought to have brought the first French Merino sheep to the island.
Ranching
Castillero sold the island to William Barron, a San Francisco businessman and co-owner of the company Barron, Forbes & Co., in 1857. During the twelve years that Barron owned the island, Dr. Shaw continued to manage it as superintendent and was charged by Barron to expand the sheep ranching operation begun during the Castillero era. The Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
significantly increased the demand for wool and by 1864 some 24,000 sheep grazed the hills and valleys of Santa Cruz Island.
Shaw’s island sheep ranch was well known by 1869, the year he left Santa Cruz. He imported cattle, horses, and sheep to the island and erected one of the earliest wharves along the California coast at Prisoners Harbor by 1869. He built corrals and houses for himself and his employees and expanded the road system. Shaw was the first rancher to ship sheep to San Francisco by steamer, some selling at $30 per animal. When Barron sold the island in 1869 to ten investors from San Francisco for $150,000, Shaw left for San Francisco and Los Alamos where he continued ranching. At that time, the gross proceeds from the ranch on Santa Cruz Island were supposedly $50,000.
One of the investors, Justinian Caire, was a French immigrant and founder of a successful San Francisco hardware business that sold equipment to miners. By the late 1880s Caire had acquired all of the shares of the Santa Cruz Island Company which he and his colleagues had founded in 1869. He continued a successful livestock and ranching industry on the island for many years.
An extended and complicated series of litigation among Caire family members resulted in the division of the island and the sale of most of it in 1937. Justinian Caire's descendents retained 6000 acres (24.3 km²) on the east end of the island, on which they continued the sheep ranching operation. Other family members sold the remaining 90 percent of the island to Los Angeles oilman Edwin Stanton in 1937.
Edwin Stanton’s purchase of the major part of Santa Cruz Island brought a major shift in agricultural production on the island. After trying for a short time to continue the sheep operation, he decided to switch to beef
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
production. At the time, the beef industry in California was growing rapidly, with Santa Barbara County among the top ten beef producers in the state.
Edwin Stanton’s ranch on Santa Cruz Island saw changes that reflected the evolution of cattle ranching in a working landscape. While retaining most of the 19th century structures dating from the Caire period, Stanton constructed a few buildings to meet the needs of his cattle ranch, the most notable of which is Rancho del Norte on the isthmus. Pasture fencing and corrals were altered to suit the cattle operation and an extensive water system was added to provide water to the cattle.
The Gherini family, descendents of Justinian Caire, continued their sheep ranching operations on the east end of Santa Cruz Island until 1984, using Scorpion Ranch as their base. They managed the island with resident managers and laborers and often worked as a family during shearing and during the summer. Production dropped during the 1970s and 80s and the expense of ranching on a remote island rose. By 1984 the last ranch lessee vacated the island and a newly formed hunting club called Island Adventures leased the facilities from the Gherinis. The hunt club used the ranch houses at Scorpion and Smugglers to house guests who came to hunt the feral pigs and remaining sheep. The fight between the Gherinis and the federal government started in 1980, when the northern Channel Islands were designated a national park and Congress authorized the purchase of the family's remaining land. But the purchase agreement stalled for years as family members pushed the federal government to pay what they believed was the appropriate amount for the land. In the early 1990s, the government managed to buy the interests of Francis Gherini's three siblings for about $4 million apiece. But the former Oxnard attorney rejected the offer as too low, keeping his 25% interest in the 6264 acres (25.3 km²) ranch and leaving the park service with 75%.
Park officials continued negotiations in recent years, but said they were constrained by law from paying more than fair market value. In 1995, park officials were still reviewing appraisals of the land, hoping they could meet Gherini's price and snatch up the last privately owned land in the national park. In November 1996, government officials settled with Gherini for 14 million dollars which included 2 million dollars in back interest.
With Edwin Stanton’s death in 1964, his widow and son, Carey, re-incorporated the Santa Cruz Island Company and continued the cattle operations on the island. Carey Stanton died unexpectedly in 1987 at the ranch and was buried in the family plot in the island chapel yard at the Main Ranch. The real property passed to The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....
through a prior agreement that Carey Stanton had established with the non-profit organization. The Nature Conservancy rapidly liquidated the cattle operation and ended the ranching era on the island.
Other uses
Santa Cruz was a base for otter hunters, fishermen, and smugglers. The Channel Islands often provided smugglers and bootleggers with convenient yet isolated hideaways where they could store their goods, one area is known today as Smugglers Cove.George Nidever recalled hunting otter at Santa Cruz in the winter of 1835-1836. Working from a base camp at Santa Rosa Island, he and two others obtained 60 skins that season. Fishermen encamped on the island, trading fish for other goods from passing boats.
The United States military began to use Santa Cruz Island during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and has constructed and maintained strategic installations on the island. Like all of the Channel Islands, Santa Cruz Island was used as an early warning outpost for observing enemy planes and ships during World War II. During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
a communications station was installed as a part of the Pacific Missile Range Facility
Pacific Missile Range Facility
The Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands is a U.S. Naval facility and airport located five nautical miles northwest of the central business district of Kekaha, in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States....
. This station remains in operation, although not at the levels of use seen in the 1950s and 1960s.
National park
In 1936 the Caire family reportedly offered their 90% of the island for $750,000 to the state of California for use as a state or federal park. Nothing came of this proposal and the property was sold to Edwin Stanton. Stanton's son and heir was not interested in a government purchase of his island and took steps to avoid such events by forging an agreement with The Nature Conservancy and the property was transferred to the organization upon his death. Although Santa Cruz Island is included within the boundaries of Channel Islands National Park, The Nature Conservancy portion of the island does not belong to the park. A transfer of 8500 acres (34.4 km²) from the Nature Conservancy to the park was completed in 2000.Channel Islands National Park owns and operates approximately 24% of Santa Cruz Island. The remaining land is managed by a combination of organizations which includes The Nature Conservancy, the University of California Field Station, and the Santa Cruz Island Foundation.
Wildlife
Introduced and invasive species on Santa Cruz Island include:- Golden EagleGolden EagleThe Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...
(invader), which replaced the native bald eagleBald EagleThe Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
, and hunted island foxIsland FoxThe island fox is a small fox that is native to six of the eight Channel Islands of California. There are six subspecies of the fox, each unique to the island it lives on, reflecting its evolutionary history...
es to threatened status. - FennelFennelFennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum . It is a member of the family Apiaceae . It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves...
(introduced), served as cover for Island Foxes, but as forageFodderFodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...
for the feral pigs. - FeralFeralA feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
PigPigA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s (introduced), displaced native island foxes. - Santa Cruz sheepSanta Cruz sheepSanta Cruz sheep are an extremely rare breed of domestic sheep that once existed as a feral population on the Santa Cruz Island of the Channel Islands of California. Small and hardy, the sheep were all killed or removed from the island to prevent destruction of natural habitats. Today, they number...
Native species include:
- Island Scrub-jay
- Hoffman's rockressBoechera hoffmanniiBoechera hoffmannii is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name Hoffmann's rockcress. It is endemic to the Channel Islands of California, where it is known from only three or four populations on two of the eight islands. A 2005 report estimated a remaining...
, which is known only from Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa IslandsSanta Rosa Island, CaliforniaSanta Rosa Island is the second largest of the Channel Islands of California at 53,195 acres . Defined by the United States Census Bureau as Block 3009, Block Group 3, Census Tract 29.10 of Santa Barbara County, California, the 2000 census showed an official population of 2 persons. It is part of...
. - Island manzanitaArctostaphylos insularisArctostaphylos insularis, with the common name Island manzanita, is a species of manzanita. It is endemic to Santa Cruz Island, one of the Channel Islands of California.-Description:...
and whitehair manzanitaArctostaphylos viridissimaArctostaphylos viridissima is a species of manzanita known by the common names whitehair manzanita and McMinn's manzanita. It is endemic to Santa Cruz Island, one of the Channel Islands of California....
, shrubs which are endemic to Santa Cruz Island. - Island fence lizard, endemic to the Channel Islands of CaliforniaChannel Islands of CaliforniaThe Channel Islands of California are a chain of eight islands located in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California along the Santa Barbara Channel in the United States of America...
Reintroduced bald eagles
Bald eagleBald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
s were once numerous on California's Channel Islands. Because of eggshell thinning caused by DDT
DDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
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 of California
Montrose Chemical Corporation of California
After World War II, Montrose Chemical Corporation of California, 20201 S. Normandie Ave., Unincorporated LA County, California began producing Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane , the new “wonder pesticide.” Their waste disposal system funneled the plant’s processed waste into the county sewer...
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.
In April 2007, the Nature Conservancy announced another successful chick hatching. The chick broke free of its shell on 13 April 2007.
Transportation
Santa Cruz Island has several airstrips:- Santa Cruz Island Airport (KSZN) has one 2100 ft (640.1 m) runway with orientation 9/27 and is located at 34°3'38.07"N 119°54'54.76"W
- Christy Airstrip (CA94) has a 2500 ft (762 m) runway with orientation 9/27 and is located at 34°1'7.42"N 119°51'7.13"W
- Unknown Airstrip at 33°59'21.43"N 119°40'50.14"W with one unpaved 2100 ft (640.1 m) runway and at least one aircraft.