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The Channel Islands of California, also called the Santa Barbara Islands, 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.
| Northern islands | Southern islands |
| Anacapa Island | San Clemente Island |
| San Miguel Island | San Nicolas Island |
| Santa Cruz Island | Santa Barbara Island |
| Santa Rosa Island | Santa Catalina Island |
Description
The eight islands are split between the jurisdictions of three separate California counties: Santa Barbara County (four), Ventura County (two) and Los Angeles County (two). The islands are divided into two groups, the Northern Channel Islands and the Southern Channel Islands. The four Northern Islands used to be a single landmass known as Santa Rosae.
The archipelago extends for 160 miles (257.5 kilometers) between San Miguel Island in the north and San Clemente Island in the south. Together, the island's land area totals 221,331 acres, or about 346 square miles.
Five of the islands (San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara) were made into the Channel Islands National Park in 1980. The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary encompasses the waters six nautical miles (11 kilometers) off Anacapa, Santa Cruz, San Miguel and Santa Barbara Islands.
Santa Catalina Island is the only one of the eight islands with a significant permanent civilian settlement—the resort city of Avalon, California.
Wildlife
Main article: Notable wildlife of the California Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are part of one of the richest marine biospheres of the world. Many unique species of plants and animals are endemic to the Channel Islands, including fauna such as the Island Fox, Channel Islands Spotted Skunk, Island Scrub Jay, Ashy Storm-petrel, Island Night Lizard, Channel Island Slender Salamander, Santa Catalina Island Rattlesnake, San Clemente Goat, San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike and flora including unique subspecies of Torrey Pine and Oak and the Island Tree mallow.
Gallery
Military use
The United States Navy completely controls San Nicolas Island and San Clemente Island and has installations elsewhere in the chain. During WWII all of Southern California's Channel Islands were put under complete military control—including the civilian populated Santa Catalina where tourism was halted and established residents needed permits to travel to and from the mainland.San Miguel Island was used as a bombing range *
Legislation is now being proposed in the United States House of Representatives that would make Santa Rosa Island a military resort and training facility. Under the proposal the island would keep its National Park status though public access would be limited.*
See also
- Guadalupe Island, Baja California, Mexico
- Channel Islands (similarly named islands in the English Channel, off the coast of France)
- Dwarf elephant on Channel Islands
External links
- Channel Islands National Park
- Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
- Homepage of Vladimir Dinets-Channel Islands
- Catalina Island Life During WWII
- Wants Santa Rosa Island" LA Times 12/10/05
Channel Islands of California | Archipelagoes
Kanalinseln (Kalifornien) | Archipiélago del Norte | Channel Islands | איי התעלה של קליפורניה | チャンネル諸島 (カリフォルニア州)
"Channel Islands of California"