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The island's rich cultural and natural resources date back tens of thousands of years and include important ancient artifacts and discoveries that continue to help us understand the world around us.
Although the earliest date of human arrival on the Northern Channel Islands is not known with certainty, radiocarbon dating places humans on Santa Rosa Island for more than 13, years. In addition to the native Chumash, who occupied the island the longest, European explorers, Aleut sea otter hunters, Chinese abalone fisherman, Spanish missionaries, Mexican and American Ranchers, and the US military have all occupied Santa Rosa Island.
Skip to Content Accessible Browsing Information. Search Campus Go. In Mobil Oil Corporation obtained a lease and drilled six unsuccessful wells, plugging and abandoning the last one in Subsequently, the National Park Service issued a series of five-year renewable special use permits [8].
Threatened lawsuits in resulted in a settlement agreement, which included the end of all hunting and ranching operations, such that only one steer remained by Vail's 25 year use and occupancy agreement ended in December In U. The provision stayed in the bill and was signed into law by President George W. This legislation was repealed by the next Congress as part of the FY Omnibus appropriations bill , [9] also signed into law by President George W. Recreational activities on Santa Rosa Island include kayaking, camping and hiking.
A private boat charter company offers a number of trips to the island year round, and camping reservations can be made through Channel Islands National Park offices in Ventura, California.
A year-round charter flight service is available from Camarillo Airport for hikers and campers to Santa Rosa Island. A variety of the Torrey pine Pinus torreyana var. The population of this endangered species is estimated at approximately trees.
The island oak Quercus tomentella is native to the island. Flightless geese, giant mice and pygmy mammoths are extinct, while the island fox , spotted skunk , and munchkin dudleya Dudleya gnoma [11] one of the six endemic plant species on the island still live there. The island is home to one of only three known populations of Hoffman's rockcress.
Vail and John V. In , T. Namespaces Article Talk. Retrieved May 26, Maritime Commerce Following the removal of the Chumash from the island, there were no permanent island residents for the next twenty years.
Its surrounding waters serve as an invaluable nursery for the sea life that feeds larger marine mammals and seabirds. Great white sharks are fairly common in the northern Channel Islands especially San Miguel and Santa Rosa and feed on the abundant marine mammals.
The rare endemic lichen Caloplaca obamae , discovered in and described by Kerry Knudsen in , commemorates United States President Barack Obama. In winter, frosts are almost unknown, and in summer cool fogs make heat waves rare.
The large majority of the rain falls from December to March. Annual precipitation totals are about 15 inches on the coast to almost 20 inches on the higher slopes.
Summers are dry except for fog drizzle. The remains of pygmy mammoths Mammuthus exilis , which appear to have gone extinct about 13, years ago, have been excavated on the island.
After conducting 25 years of field research here, he published the results of his work in In , Orr discovered the remains of 13,year-old Arlington Springs Man , the oldest reliably dated human remains in the Americas, on the island. The remains were found in an arroyo 37 feet below the existing ground surface. They were carefully preserved, and were finally analyzed in , when radiocarbon dating methods were improved, by scientists Don Morris and John Johnson. Back 13, years ago, the site of the discovery would have been an interior island location, several miles from where the coast then existed.
Whale watching around the island humpback whale.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Rick, T. Braje, M. Casperson, B. Culleton, B. Fulfrost, T. Garcia, D. Guthrie, N. Jew, D. Kennett, M. Moss, L.. Reeder, C. Skinner, J.