In May 2006 I took part in a terrific Jepson Herbarium workshop led by Steve Junak to San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands. Our transportation was provided by Island Packers in Ventura and we ate our meals and slept in bunks on board during the trip. On our return from San Miguel we landed for an all-too brief few hours on Santa Rosa Island. Although the Chumash and their ancestors occupied San Miguel for thousands of years, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first European to make landfall on San Miguel Island in 1542. He died during this expedition and despite the fact that it has often been rumored that he was buried there, and there is a Cabrillo monument on the island, his gravesite has never been found. San Miguel Island is the westernmost of the Channel Islands, mostly a plateau about 500' in elevation with a couple of 800' hills and as such bears the brunt of the winds and waves that pound its western shoreline. At 9,325 acres in area and eight miles long, it is the sixth largest of the Channel Islands and is located about 65 miles WSW of Oxnard and 45 miles SW of Santa Barbara. The San Miguel colony of northern fur seals contains roughly 10,000 individuals. Santa Rosa Island is larger and at about 53,000 acres is the second largest of the Channel Islands, closer to the mainland and like San Miguel part of the Channel Islands National Park. Its highest elevation is Vail Peak at 1,589', and it is home to the only other population of torrey pines other than the one at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native species, the symbol + is for a Channel Islands endemic, and ++ is for a San Miguel Island endemic. |
