Anacapa Island
Encyclopedia
Anacapa Island is a small volcanic island located about 11 miles (17.7 km) off the coast of Port Hueneme, California
Port Hueneme, California
Port Hueneme is a small beach city in Ventura County, California surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Pacific Ocean. The name derives from the Spanish spelling of the Chumash wene me, meaning "Resting Place". The area was discovered by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in the mid 16th century...
, in Ventura County. The Island is composed of a series of narrow islets six miles long, running in a mostly east-west orientation, five miles east of Santa Cruz Island
Santa Cruz Island
Santa Cruz Island was the largest privately owned island off the continental United States, but is currently part-owned by the National Park service . The island, located off the coast of California, is long and from wide...
. The island is composed of three islets: East, Middle and West Anacapa, collectively known as the “Anacapas” by some authors. The islets have precipitous cliffs, dropping off steeply into the sea. East and Middle Anacapa have fairly level areas at their tops, but West Anacapa is wider and reaches an altitude of 930 feet. Middle Island reaches an altitude of 325 feet and East Island is 250 feet at its highest point. All three islands total 699 acres, or about 1.1 square miles.
Anacapa is part of the Channel Islands archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
(island chain), and is part of the Channel Islands National Park
Channel Islands National Park
- External links :* Official site: * *...
. It is the smallest of the northern islands. The islands are defined by the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
as Block Group 8, Census Tract
Census tract
A census tract, census area, or census district is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Usually these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exist within a county...
36.04 of Ventura County, California
Ventura County, California
Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country...
. The official 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
population was 3 permanent residents (Ranger Station in the eastern part of East Island), and the total land area was 2.947 square kilometres (1.1 sq mi). The highest peak is Summit Peak 2 on West Island, 930 feet (283 m).
East Island's most notable natural feature is Arch Rock, a 40 feet (12.2 m)-high natural bridge.
Ecology
Anacapa Island, located only about 11 miles from the urbanized coast of Southern California, provides critical habitat for seabirds, pinnipeds such as California sea lionsCalifornia Sea Lion
The California sea lion is a coastal sea lion of western North America. Their numbers are abundant , and the population continues to expand about 5% annually. They are quite intelligent and can adapt to man-made environments...
, and several endemic plants and animals. The island has a somewhat diverse flora, including around 150 native plants, including 16 endemics (2 of which are unique to the island) plus many introduced species. Removal of sheep about 1938 and rabbits in the 1950s has allowed the vegetation to begin to recover.
Anacapa has around 69 species of birds. The island’s steep lava rock cliffs incorporate numerous caves and crevices that are particularly important for the increasingly rare seabird species, Xantus’s Murrelet
Xantus's Murrelet
Xantus's Murrelet is a small seabird found in the California Current system in the Pacific Ocean. This auk breeds on islands off California and Mexico...
(Threatened) and Ashy Storm-petrel. The largest breeding colony of the California Brown Pelican
Brown Pelican
The Brown Pelican is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is in length, weighs from and has a wingspan from .-Range and habits:...
in the United States, and one of the only two in California, also occurs on Anacapa Island. This is where the Brown Pelican
Brown Pelican
The Brown Pelican is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is in length, weighs from and has a wingspan from .-Range and habits:...
has been able to recover so dramatically from near extinction in the 1970s. There are four mammals on the island, including a unique subspecies of deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus anacapae) which occurs only on this island. The island has two reptiles, including an endemic form of the interesting and attractive Side-Blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana). There is one amphibian, the channel islands slender salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus). Marine mammals and other marine life abound on Anacapa.
Anacapa’s prolific and dense vegetation was once dominated by the showy Giant Coreopsis Coreopsis gigantea
Coreopsis gigantea
Coreopsis gigantea is a woody perennial plant native to California and Baja California. The stem is a trunk 1-2 m tall, 4-10 cm diameter. Bright green leaves and flowers are on the top of the trunk, the rest of the trunk is bare. The flowers are yellow, daisy-like, 6-20 cm...
, an erect, shrubby perennial with a stout, succulent trunk growing to some 8' tall. The main trunk grows up to 5" thick and often resembles a small tree. During its blooming season, March to May, it bursts forth with a mass of showy, bright yellow flowers and green leaves. Giant Coreopsis provided shelter and perches for seabirds and land birds, and nesting habitat for many. The prolific seeds provided abundant food for the endemic Anacapa deer mouse, and for many small birds. The island’s stands of Giant Coreopsis, as well as all the other plants of its coastal bluff community, were devastated by sheep grazing in the late 1800s and early 1900s, rabbit browsing in 1910-1950s, and by large-scale destruction of native vegetation associated with facility and road development by the U.S. Coast Guard during construction and manning of the Anacapa Light Station. Only small patches and individuals of native plants remained.
After completion of the lighthouse and associated facilities, the Coast Guard planted two types of iceplant on East Anacapa Islet: red-flowered iceplant (Malephora crocea)
Malephora crocea
Malephora crocea is a species of flowering plant in the ice plant family known by the common name coppery mesemb. It is native to Africa and it is grown in many other places as an ornamental plant and a groundcover. In California and Baja California this is an introduced species and often a noxious...
and sea fig, aka ‘freeway iceplant’ (Carpobrotus edulis x aequilaterus). Both are highly invasive. The National Park Service has initiated a restoration project to eradicate all of the ice plant by 2016, the centennial of the National Park Service Organic Act.
Invasive ship rats (Rattus rattus) are thought to have been introduced to the island from the wrecked ship. They had devastating consequences for the island's seabirds and other native species, but were successfully eradicated in 2001–2002. With the rats gone, the number of rare Xantus' Murrelets has increased more than 80 percent in the last three years. This is one of many recoveries following invasive species eradications from the Channel Islands.
The rare plant Anacapa Island desert-dandelion
Malacothrix junakii
Malacothrix junakii is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names Anacapa Island desert-dandelion and Junak's malacothrix. It is endemic to Anacapa Island, one of the Channel Islands of California, where it is known from just two occurrences. It occurs in the...
(Malacothrix junakii) is known only from the island.
In The Channel Islands of California (1910), Charles Frederick Holder
Charles Frederick Holder
Charles Frederick Holder was the inventor of big-game fishing and a founder of Pasadena's Tournament of Roses and the Tuna Club of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island....
says of Anacapa
History
Anacapa is the only one of the Channel Islands to have a non-SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
-derived name. Anacapa comes from the Chumash word eneepah, meaning mirage island.
On the night of December 2, 1853, the sidewheel steamer
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
Winfield Scott running at full speed crashed into the rocks off Middle Anacapa and sank. All of the passengers survived and were rescued after a week.
The United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
built a light beacon
Beacon
A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location.Beacons can also be combined with semaphoric or other indicators to provide important information, such as the status of an airport, by the colour and rotational pattern of its airport beacon, or of...
in 1912 and a light station
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
in 1932 (Anacapa Island Light). It was the last lighthouse built by the United States Lighthouse Service
United States Lighthouse Service
The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the US Federal Government that was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all lighthouses in the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 until 1939...
. The lighthouse is located on the eastern part of the island, at the entrance to the Santa Barbara Channel.
On January 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261
Alaska Airlines Flight 261
Alaska Airlines Flight 261, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft, experienced a fatal accident on January 31, 2000 at the Pacific Ocean about 2.7 miles north of Anacapa Island, California. The two pilots, three cabin crewmembers, and 83 passengers on board were killed and the aircraft was destroyed...
crashed near the island.