{"id":996,"date":"2026-06-05T10:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=996"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:31:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:31:00","slug":"we-barely-know-whats-been-lost-from-the-fire-on-santa-rosa-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=996","title":{"rendered":"We barely know what\u2019s been lost from the fire on Santa Rosa Island"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When I saw the headlines that flames were ravaging Santa Rosa Island, sadness washed over me.<\/p>\n

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Many of the news stories highlighted the threat to the unique plants and animals inhabiting the island off the coast of Santa Barbara, from plucky, pint-sized foxes to the rarest pine trees in North America<\/u>. <\/p>\n

To me, the loss wasn\u2019t theoretical. I saw these and many other otherworldly species while on a life-changing backpacking trip to the island five years ago, which I chronicled for this newspaper. Looking at the fire map, I could see much of the path I charted was now seared.<\/p>\n

That includes my first wilderness campsite near Ford Point, where a several-thousand-pound elephant seal roused me from slumber with its jarring bark. It wasn\u2019t pleasant moving a tent after hiking for 10 hours, but seeing the behemoth (and his mate) in the gauzy morning light made it worth it.<\/p>\n

The fire also passed through a grove of critically endangered Torrey pines, which I had hiked up to and gazed down on the island\u2019s crystal blue water. It burned through Water Canyon Campground, where I spent my final night in relative comfort after roughing it in the backcountry. Beyond the sights, the trip brought me closer to my husband, who had transformed into a bona fide outdoorsman during the pandemic. <\/p>\n

Now fear clouds the memories: Does the rugged, magical place of my mind\u2019s eye still exist? As The Times\u2019 wildlife and outdoors reporter, I felt immediate concern for the island\u2019s critters and plants. I was a visitor, but this is their home. Would it still be hospitable?<\/p>\n

Among the good news is that the fire is now fully contained, after igniting three weeks ago. But before it was vanquished, the blaze chewed through about a third of the island, one of five that comprise Channel Islands National Park. While the cause remains under investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard initially reported a shipwrecked sailor may have sparked the blaze after firing flares for help. Coast Guard images showed the 67-year-old man had carved \u201cSOS\u201d into what looked like charred ground before being rescued by helicopter. <\/p>\n

The Channel Islands, an archipelago that includes three additional islands outside the park, are nicknamed the \u201cGalapagos of North America<\/u>\u201d for the flora and fauna found only there. Fires of such magnitude are rare on Santa Rosa so its inhabitants haven\u2019t evolved with them.<\/p>\n

Speaking to fire officials and scientists, the prevailing sentiment is there\u2019s much we don\u2019t know about the fire\u2019s impact and how long recovery will take \u2014 or if it will ever even look the same. Starting Friday, specialists will begin assessing where everything stands. Until then, researchers can take educated guesses. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be winners and losers for sure,\u201d said Heather Schneider, director of conservation at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, whose work includes studying and protecting rare plants on the island. <\/p>\n

Take the Hoffmann\u2019s slender-flowered gilia, a federally endangered wildflower found only on the island and much of it within the area that burned. It\u2019s possible the blaze incinerated the dainty purple-and-white flowers before they could drop seeds this year. But Schneider and her colleagues believe there\u2019s probably a healthy collection of seeds in the soil from previous years that hasn\u2019t germinated yet that could help it recover when conditions are right.<\/p>\n

Some glimmers of hope have emerged from what we do<\/i> know. It\u2019s believed the island\u2019s Torrey pines are largely intact and much of the campground survived. The pinnipeds that crashed my first night on the island were probably not affected much. Certain areas I visited, like the historic South Point Light Station, were spared. <\/p>\n

Greg Pauly, curator of herpetology for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, who has researched the island\u2019s reptiles and amphibians for 14 years, highlighted that the web of life is interconnected \u2014 and certain effects may play out over time.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s sort of a one-two punch,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to survive the fire, and then you\u2019ve got to be able to figure out how to make a living in a landscape that looks very different than it did a week ago.\u201d <\/p>\n

In many parts of the island, the soil\u2019s high clay content causes deep fractures to form as it dries. He expects many animals, like the gopher snake, made it through the fire by hunkering down in the cracks. <\/p>\n

When the snake emerges, it should find enough mice to chow down on. But a lack of seeds and other food for mice might mean that prey dwindles over time.<\/p>\n

He worries about other ripple effects, too.<\/p>\n

Non-native grasses that have taken hold \u201ccreate a carpet of highly flammable material for much of the year,\u201d he said. In the aftermath of fire, such grasses often spring up quickly and shade out native plants. He expects the acreage to increase. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s bad news for the majority of wildlife on the island that relies on native habitat, like woody shrubs.<\/p>\n

Yet, as Pauly put it, the island is no stranger to flux. Just within the past two centuries, cattle and sheep brought in for ranching \u2014 and then later elk and deer for hunting \u2014 ate up the island\u2019s shrubs, he said. Since 2011, he added, the island\u2019s been free of these non-native grazers and native vegetation has rebounded. <\/p>\n

He expects even more change. Scientists are clocking an increase in temperature and slight decrease in fog. He also predicts fires will become more common as more people visit. <\/p>\n

While harrowing, I also found a strange comfort in Pauly\u2019s words. Change is inevitable, whether bad or good. My memories of the island are of a snapshot in time. I went during the height of the pandemic, when my boatmates were masked and socially distanced. All the wonder I experienced notwithstanding, I wouldn\u2019t want that aspect of the journey to carry on.<\/p>\n

And change doesn\u2019t need to be taken lying down. Some are already gearing up to get the island back on track.<\/p>\n

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden has seeds for all of the rare plants in the burn area, a sort of fail safe if they need help recovering. Additionally, just this March, it opened a conservation grove of Torrey pines grown from seeds collected on Santa Rosa. The Channel Islands National Park Foundation is on hand to raise money for the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be an all hands on deck situation to understand, assess and plan the recovery,\u201d the garden\u2019s Schneider said.<\/p>\n

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If I go back to Santa Rosa, I hope to embrace it as it is: transformed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A destructive wildfire burned through a third of Santa Rosa Island. 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