(birds cherping)
(music)
What is it about an island?
What is it that captures our imagination?
Maybe it's that islands are a world apart,
oceanic outposts where native communities have evolved in isolation for thousands of years.
Every plant and animal, an integral part of a unique, self-sustaining ecosystem.
What's surprising is just how vulnerable islands can be.
How easily certain human activities can disturb this natural environment.
And how a chain of seemingly unrelated events can undermine an ecosystem that has sustained
life in balance for thousands of years.
Rising up from the Pacific like a strand of floating fortresses
the Channel Islands beckon us to their rugged shores.
Of the five islands that make up Channel Islands National Park
Santa Cruz Island is the largest of these wild refuges.
Only twenty five miles from the mainland a visit to Santa Cruz is like taking a step back in time
to what California was lake 150 years ago.
Oasis of biodiversity, Santa Cruz and the other islands are home to plants and animals found nowhere else on earth.
Like the Galapagos Islands of South America
the Channel Islands provide a rare opportunity for species to evolve in isolation.
Over 150 species are unique to the Channel Islands and 13 are found only on Santa Cruz Island.
The island also harbors other treasures including some of the worlds most well preserved and sacred cultural sites
which shed light on the lives of the Island Chumash,
Native Americans who thrived and lived sustainably on the island for thousands of years.
The islands plants and animals also flourished for thousands of years.
But in the mid 1800's pigs and sheep were introduced by European settlers
and eventually formed large feral populations numbering in the tens of thousands.
The presence of non-native pigs and sheep on the island had a tremendous impact on the islands vegetation.
You have to remember there were literally thousands of these animals roaming the island,
and through grazing and rooting they created bare soil, and it was in these areas invasive plants species,
the non-native species, like fennel and the annual grasses invaded and were able to out compete
the native plant species.
It was the result of these impacts the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed nine of the islands plant species
as endangered or threatened.
The archaeological remains of the Chumash islanders also fell prey to the non-native animals.
The non-native pigs impacted the archaeological in many ways but especially through rooting down for foods.
This rooting on average extended about on to two feet in depth which is not very deep
except when you consider that a lot of these sites do not extend more than three to four feet in depth
so that resulted in about fifty percent of the site being impacted.
What was being lost to us as native peoples with the destruction of the non-native animals,
especially the pigs, was the sanctity of our sacred sites,
the disruption and disturbance of our burials and the artifacts out on the island
it was very unsettling for us.
In the 1950's the island was struck by another blow, this one from off shore.
Bald eagles were once a very important part of the Santa Cruz Island ecosystem.
We believe there were at least seven nesting pairs out on Santa Cruz.
Bald eagles were heavily impacted by the chemical DDT.
DDT was manufacture in Southern California. It was discharged into the marine environment.
It affected the entire food chain, eventually working its way up to bald eagles.
Bald eagles as a result laid thin eggs, the eggs were crushed and these birds were unable to reproduce.
The end result was bald eagles were totally illuminated from the Channel Islands by the mid 1900's.
This set the stage for a new inhabitant to colonize Santa Cruz Island.
Golden eagles ventured over from the mainland lured by the promise of easy prey.
Unlike bald eagles who feed on marine animals, golden eagles hunt terrestrial animals.
So with the bald eagles gone, the golden eagles were able to move onto the island
they took advantage of this non-native animal, the feral pigs that were existing on Santa Cruz Island,
and they also hit the island foxes.
Island foxes were not accustomed to having an aerial predator and they never saw the golden eagle coming.
Island foxes, a unique species found only on the Channel Islands, have long been the islands top predator,
living without the threat of being hunted by other animals.
But now, for the first time, the foxes had become prey.
and the results were catastrophic.
Island foxes on Santa Cruz Island declined over ninety percent due to golden eagle predation between 1994,
when we estimated there were between 1,500 foxes on the island,
and 2000 by which time there were less than 100 left, and the population was in dire straits
almost at the verge of extinction.
For the island foxes, the bald eagles and many other species
life on Santa Cruz Island had become unsustainable.
There was little chance of the island recovering on its own.
So the islands managing partners, the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy,
put together a multi-faceted restoration plan built on science and long-term commitment.
One of the biggest threats is loosing unique species found here and nowhere else in the world.
The balance of life had been so deeply disturbed for decades
that the island was simply not going to be able to right itself on its own.
It was clear that if were not going to take immediate action
the islands unique natural systems would collapse.
A plan to restore the islands species and ecosystem was put into action
signaling a change from an era of island ranching to one of conservation and preservation of a National Park.
Island restoration efforts began in the early 1980's with a program to remove the non-native sheep.
It was the first step towards turning the tides and restoring the island ecosystems.
Historically there were over 100,000 sheep on Santa Cruz.
When the National Park Service acquired the eastern portion of Santa Cruz Island
we began to round up the sheep, they were moved into corrals, and then onto boats, and brought here to the mainland.
After the non-native sheep were removed the island was granted some reprieve
a chance for vegetation to regenerate
for the landscape to stabilize
but non-native pigs continued to wreak havoc on the islands cultural and biologic resource
ruining sacred archaeological sites, uprooting native island vegetation
and supporting golden eagles that in turn would eat the island foxes.
Island foxes were brought into captivity on Santa Cruz Island as they were on San Miguel and Santa Rosa
because they were on the verge of extinction.
Their populations were so small and the threat of golden eagles was still so high
that captivity was the only thing that was going to save them at that point.
In 2002 ten pairs of Santa Cruz Island foxes were brought into captivity
to serve as the core or the nucleus of a captive breeding program
that would eventually attempt to repopulate the island with island foxes.
Captive breeding of island foxes had never been attempted when we started it on Santa Cruz Island in 2002
and we were faced with a number of challenges.
First of all we had to get the right foxes into captivity.
Luckily there were radio collared foxes out there in the wild
and we knew who was mated to whom so we were able to bring in mated pairs.
Now for the foxes we brought in that we wanted to mate with other animals
we actually studied their genetics to make sure we were not mating them with relatives.
We also needed to come up with a proper diet for island foxes
and for that we worked with the National Zoo.
We need to come up with the right type of enclosure to keep island foxes in
because of their prodigious climbing abilities.
And finally we needed to come up with an operational plan that would take us
well on the road towards recovery of the wild population by gradually releasing foxes from captivity
over a number of years since the whole idea was to recover the population in the wild to a reliable level.
But the captive bread island foxes would have little chance of surviving in the wild
if the golden eagles remained.
In order to recover island foxes we decided it was necessary to live capture and remove the golden eagles.
The most successful technique that we used was the bow net.
The bow net was put in the ground and hidden.
We put a lure or bait in the center to attract a golden eagle.
If a bird came to the net we could remotely trigger it, safely capture the golden eagle
and we could bring it to the mainland and release it northern California.
By 2006 forty four golden eagles had been relocated to mainland California.
But this relocation didn't guarantee the safety of the island foxes.
New golden eagles would continue to be sustained on the island until the non-native pigs
their main source of food, were removed.
As long as feral pigs continued to roam the island the ecosystem would remain in jeopardy.
The daunting task of removing the non-native pigs was handled by a team of experts from New Zealand
with a long history of eradication projects focused on non-native and invasive species.
In order to efficiently cover the islands ninety six square miles
the island was divided into five zones separated by fences.
When we've completed the first zone, Zone 1
we could actually leave that zone and walk away from it, knowing that it's complete
and prevent immigration from the other zones that bounded that
So that was a really, really important aspect of the project.
Without those, it meant that instead of having 8,000 acres to protect once you've completed it
we would have 96 square miles of area to hunt continuously.
From that aspect, the fences were really really important
Even with the zoning there was still a vast amount of terrain to cover,
a task that could have taken a decade if the team had been earth bound.
The helicopter was by far the most important tool in the eradication process.
It allowed us to take at least seventy five percent of the pigs off the island very quickly and efficiently
and caused the population to drop almost overnight.
By 2006 the last of the over 5,000 non-native pigs had been removed from the island.
With the removal of the pigs, the golden eagles could no longer be sustained
opening the gates for the reintroduction of bald eagles on Santa Cruz Island.
We thought the time was finally right for the reintroduction of bald eagles
to the northern Channel Islands.
In 2002 the institute for wildlife studies established a partnership with the National Park Service
to re-establish bald eagles on the California Channel Islands.
Between 2002 and 2007 we released over 60 bald eagle chicks on the islands.
This is about and eight week old bald eagle chick.
It was hatched out at the San Francisco Zoo.
The zoo has been a cooperated in this whole program to bring bald eagles back to the Channel Islands.
They have a captive colony of bald eagles there that they used to produce offspring like this for reintroduction programs.
Once the birds reach about twelve weeks of age
This is the time when they would normally start flying in the wild.
And they are jumping up and down inside the platform and exercising their wings
and actually hovering a little bit inside the space they have there.
We know at that point it's time they can be released.
Early in the morning before it is light we lower down what we call the fledging door
that allows them their first glimpse in the new world outside the cage
and they go out on that and sometimes the birds are not to quick to take their first flight
it's a pretty scary event for them.
Other birds they get outside and take off almost immediately and what we do prior to releasing them
is place a radio transmitter on the birds and that allows us to track their movements
after they leave the platform.
So we can make sure they are doing okay no matter where they go.
(music)
By 2006, the multi-faceted restoration plan had begun to show results
For the first time in over 50 years a bald eagle chick successfully hatched on Santa Cruz Island.
Eagles will typically begin to breed when they are four to six years of age
and this has actually now happened on Santa Cruz Island.
In 2006 we had our first successful breeding of eagles that we had released there.
A bird from Santa Catalina Island that had been released
paired up with one of our Santa Cruz Island releases, established a nest and successfully raised a chick.
We currently have two adult breeding pairs on the island, but we strongly suspect that in the next couple of years
that number is going to increase because more of the birds are maturing and starting to pair up.
Bald eagles are among the many symbols of success in the endeavor to restore the balance of life on the Island.
By all measures the captive breeding program on Santa Cruz Island has been a remarkable success.
In just five years almost 100 pups were born in captivity
and almost 100 foxes were released into the wild.
And these releases combined with the removal of golden eagles
have almost assured island fox recovery on Santa Cruz Island
making this one of the most successful and quickest recovery programs in the history of endangered species.
As for the islands native plants signs of recovery are sprouting across the island.
On the coastal terraces we are seeing a recovery of native plants like giant coreopsis, toyon, California sage brush
and island buck wheat.
And the recovery of these plants is reforming the island sage brush community
which was once more wide spread on the island prior to grazing.
What's really amazing is the recovery of the native plants here in the riparian area.
When I first started at the park 10 years ago noneof these plants were here
and now look
many of them are over my head.
But the islands plants and animals are not the only beneficiaries of the restored ecosystem.
With the removal of the non-native animals, especially the pigs
we can see the restoration of the island and the protection of our sacred sites.
While the native plants are growing and covering and stabilizing the land
we see the preservation of our culture in terms of its physical presense
but we can also know that for future generations our children will be able to go and see the islands
in a natural way and hold onto and keep the stories of our ancestors.
(music)
Although the signs are hopeful
how do we know if this restoration effort on Santa Cruz Island has been successful?
At the National Park Service we measure the success of our efforts on how close we come to restoring
the naturally functioning ecosystem of Santa Cruz Island.
By bringing back bald eagles, island foxes and protecting the rare plants and animals
some of which occur nowhere else in the world
we can insure that in the future Santa Cruz Island is self sustaining and requires minimum human inputs.
One of the biggest lessons that we can learn from the restoration of Santa Cruz Island
is the power of nature to be able to heal itself if given a chance.
The collaborative restoration effort on Santa Cruz has yielded unprecedented results
but challenges still lie ahead.
Santa Cruz Island is still vulnerable. We have to remain vigilant.
The island fox, the bald eagle and the landscape itself are still recovering.
By establishing Santa Cruz as a National Park the island and its inhabitants now have the promise of stewardship,
a promise to preserve the delicate balance of life here, now and for generations to come.
So what is it about islands?
What is it about Santa Cruz Island that captures our hearts?
Perhaps it's that places like this remind us of wild places that we have lost
and how important it is to protect the wild places that remain.