Santa Cruz Island Reserve

Santa Cruz Island Reserve is located on the largest of roughly 25 miles from Santa Barbara, California’s eight Channel Islands off the Southern California coast. The island has two major mountain systems flanking a central valley that formed along an active fault zone. The mountains are rugged and cut by steep-sided canyons, some with perennial streams and freshwater springs. The coastline is mostly steep and rocky, with some protected coves and sandy beaches. Diverse habitats include rocky intertidal zones, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, grasslands, oak woodlands, and bishop pine forests. The reserve contains breeding grounds for harbor seals, seabird nesting colonies, many endemic plant and animal species, and well-preserved archaeological sites. Santa Cruz Island Reserve is protected, owned, and managed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC); the remainder of the island is managed by the National Park Service as part of Channel Islands National Park.

Selected Research

• Archaeology: Ongoing studies of the island’s prehistoric Native American cultures; the evolution of cultural complexity in hunter-gatherer societies.
• Terrestrial botany: Defense mechanisms of insular endemic plants; age structure in island chaparral communities; population genetics of endemic species.
• Terrestrial zoology: Reproduction and kinship studies for two endemic species: island jay and state-threatened island fox (Urocyon littoralis).
• Geology and geomorphology: Structure, diversity, and origin of the island’s geological formations; fluvial system responses; sediment transport in island watersheds.
• Aquatic biology: Population studies of kelp bed fishes and selected intertidal invertebrates.

Rare and Sensitive Taxa

Inventory and monitoring of selected plant species; population genetic analysis; establishment of new outlying populations of selected taxa.

Habitat Restoration

Management strategies for invasive nonnative species (feral pigs, feral honey bees, fennel); vegetation monitoring following removal of grazing impacts.

Fire Research and Prescribed Burns

Impacts of fire on island plant species and communities; fire as a management tool for promoting native plants.

Long-term Studies

Population studies of island fox, island jay, quail, native and non-native bees, and black abalone.

Special Research of National Significance

• Land/Ocean Interactions & the Dynamics of Kelp Forest Ecosystems
• Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO)

Contact Information
Lyndal Laughrin
UC Natural Reserve System
Marine Science Institute
Building 520, Room 2312
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6150
Campus Office Phone
805-893-4127
Island Phone
805-893-7247
laughrin@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Santa Cruz Island Reserve website

Location
Santa Barbara County, in the Santa Barbara Channel; 32 km (24 mi.) long by 9 km (6 mi.) wide; 31 km (19 mi.) southwest of Ventura, CA.

Facilities
Field station with dormitory for 30+, private rooms sleep 6 to 12, kitchen, dining hall, laundry, electricity, propane, library/conference room, internet; wet and dry lab; four-wheel-drive vehicles; 17-foot Boston whaler; five-person inflatable boat.

Reserve bibliography
The reserve bibliography includes citations of journal articles, books, theses, art, and other works published about or based on activities conducted at the reserve.

Databases
Santa Cruz Island geographic information system (GIS) (part of Channel Islands GIS) on site and at UCSB; electronic Channel Islands bibliography; herbarium/invertebrate collections; flora of the island (Santa Barbara Botanic Garden 1995), plant and bird species checklists (Channel Islands National Park).

Personnel
Resident reserve manager and steward

Size
18,652 hectares (46,090 acres) on the portion of the island owned by The Nature Conservancy

Elevation
0 to 742 m (0 to 2,434 ft.); reserve field station located at 61 m (201 ft.)

Average Precipitation
50 cm (20 in.) per year in central valley of island.

Average Temperatures)
Mean monthly maximum: 22 ºC (71 ºF)
Mean monthly minimum: 10 ºC (50 ºF)