Channel Islands National Park is a United States national park[1] that consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the coast of the U.S. state of California, in the Pacific Ocean. Although the islands are close to the shore of densely-populated Southern California, their isolation has left them relatively undeveloped. The islands within the park extend along the Southern California coast from Point Conception near Santa Barbara to San Pedro, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. Park headquarters and the Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center are located in the city of Ventura.Channel Islands National Park is home to a wide variety of significant natural and cultural resources. It was designated a U.S. National Monument on April 26, 1938, and a National Biosphere Reserve in 1976. It was promoted to a National Park on March 5, 1980.More than 2,000 species of plants and animals can be found within the park. However only three mammals are endemic to the islands, one of which is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) which is known to carry the sin nombre hantavirus. Spotted Skunk and Channel Islands Fox also are endemic. The Island fence lizard[2] is also endemic to the Channel Islands.[3] Other animals in the park include Island Scrub Jay, harbor seal, sea lion, island fox, spotted skunk, island night lizard, barn owl, American kestrel, horned lark and meadowlark and California brown pelican. One hundred and forty-five of these species are unique to the islands and found nowhere else in the world. Marine life ranges from microscopic plankton to the endangered blue whale, the largest animal ever to live on earth. Archeological and cultural resources span a period of more than 10,000 years.
Community Trips
Santa Cruz Island is one of the five Channel Islands off the California coast. We took Island Packers boat from Ventura Harbor to Scorpian Achorage on the east side of the island which is under control by the National Park Service. The boat trip is about 23 miles and takes one hour. The west side of the island is controlled by the Nature Conservancy. The island is well protected from human influence....
My wife and I were passing by the city of Ventura on a road
trip up highway 1. I was driving and I noticed a Channel island national park visitor
center sign. So I decided to check out the visitor center. The rangers were
very helpful and explained everything we needed to know about the park. They
Explained it so well that my wife and I decided to park the car for a couple of
days and...
Smuggler's Cove. Mimi and I took the dinghy to shore and hiked about a bit. We flooded the dinghy both on arrival and departure to shore! Almost we stuck but for the help of some surf god watching us, who paddled over and pushed us out.
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