Channel Islands National Park

Coordinates: 34°0.5′N 119°25.0′W / 34.0083°N 119.4167°W / 34.0083; -119.4167
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Channel Islands National Park
Satellite view of Channel Islands National Park
Map showing the location of Channel Islands National Park
Map showing the location of Channel Islands National Park
Location of Channel Islands National Park
Map showing the location of Channel Islands National Park
Map showing the location of Channel Islands National Park
Channel Islands National Park (the United States)
LocationSanta Barbara County & Ventura County, California, United States
Nearest citySanta Barbara
Coordinates34°0.5′N 119°25.0′W / 34.0083°N 119.4167°W / 34.0083; -119.4167
Area249,561 acres (1,009.94 km2)[2]
EstablishedMarch 5, 1980 (1980-March-05)[3]
Visitors323,245 (in 2022)[4]
Governing bodyNational Park Service
WebsiteChannel Islands National Park
Map of Channel Islands
A beach in Channel Islands National Park

Channel Islands National Park consists of five of the eight

Channel Islands off the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. Although the islands are close to the shore of the densely populated state, they have been relatively undeveloped. The park covers 249,561 acres (100,994 ha), of which 79,019 acres (31,978 ha) are federal land.[2]

Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the eight, is divided between The Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service. The Nature Conservancy owns and manages the western 76 percent of the island, while the eastern 24 percent is owned and managed by the National Park Service.[5]

The islands are home to significant natural and cultural resources, resulting in several designations.

Ventura County
.

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary encompasses the waters six nautical miles around Channel Islands National Park.

Park purpose

As stated in the foundation document:[9]

The purpose of Channel Islands National Park is to protect and connect the public to the nationally significant natural, scenic, wildlife, marine, ecological, historical, archeological, cultural, and scientific values of the Channel Islands in the state of California.

History

Radiocarbon dating of a fire area near Arlington Canyon on the northwest coast of Santa Rosa Island shows human habitation from at least 37,000 years BP, while a burned mammoth bone was dated at 30,000 years BP. Similar fire areas in the same vicinity were dated at 27,000 years BP and 17,000 years BP, also believed to have been made by man. Additionally, a burned dwarf mammoth in a shell midden was dated to 12,500 years BP. A fire pit in a midden-humus layer was dated at 11,900 years BP, while above this layer was a stone chopper with a butchered and burned mammoth dated 11,800 years BP. Several more fire areas were dated at 11,000 years BP, while human bones, Arlington Springs Man, are dated to 10,000 years BP. A circular fishhook was dated at 4,800 years BP. Huge shell mounds appear at 2,000 years BP, while a camp fire in Skull Gulch was dated at 330 years BP.[10][11]

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo first observed the islands in 1542. The three northern channel islands were inhabited by an estimated two to three thousand Chumash, with eleven villages on Santa Cruz, eight on Santa Rosa, and two on San Miguel.[12][13][14] In 1938 the Santa Barbara and Anacapa islands were designated a national monument. San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands were combined with the monument in 1980 to form modern-day Channel Islands National Park.[13]

Oil spill