Uncover the long and varied human story of the Channel Islands, from ancient inhabitants to the establishment of the national park.
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Thirteen Thousand Years of Island Life
Five rugged islands sit off the Southern California coast, separated from the mainland by deep channels that have never been bridged by land in human memory.
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1
Chumash Canoes and Island Currency
The Chumash people built something no other Native American group on the Pacific Coast managed — sewn plank canoes called tomols.
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2
Cabrillo's Arrival Changed Everything in 1542
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed into these waters in October 1542, becoming the first European to document the Channel Islands.
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3
When Sheep Stripped the Islands Bare
At their peak, Santa Cruz Island alone held over fifty thousand sheep — a staggering number for a landscape just ninety-six square miles in size.
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4
From Monument to National Park Status
President Franklin Roosevelt signed the proclamation creating Channel Islands National Monument in 1938, but it only protected two of the eight islands — Anacapa and…
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5
Guarding the Islands' Fragile Recovery
The island fox, once down to fewer than a hundred individuals on some islands, has become one of the fastest recoveries of any mammal under the Endangered Species Act.
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