Nature Conservancy Magazine: Summer 2009

Go Deeper

Bald Eagles Return
More than seven pairs of bald eagles are nesting on the Channel Islands. Watch a video.

Santa Cruz Island
Twenty-five miles off the coast of southern California lies Santa Cruz Island, the largest of California’s eight Channel Islands. More than 1,000 species of plants and animals inhabit the island.

Restoration Takes Flight
Ecological triage brings an island back from the brink of collapse.

When the Santa Cruz Island fox was added to the endangered species list in 2004, the animal’s numbers had declined from a historical average of 1,500 to fewer than 100. Having evolved as a top predator on Santa Cruz Island for thousands of years, the fox was close to extinction after a series of disruptions turned the island’s ecology upside down.

Five years later, however, all that has changed. The fox population has rebounded to more than 700, thanks to intensive restoration efforts by The Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service — which together own the island.

“This is the fastest recovery of a listed endangered species in U.S. history that we know of,” says Lotus Vermeer, the Conservancy’s project director for Santa Cruz Island. “When I first came on board five years ago, I never saw a fox on the island; a sighting was a rare event. Now you see foxes all of the time — you can’t help it.”

After ocean dumping of DDT had contributed to poisoning and killing the island’s fish-eating bald eagles, terrestrial-hunting golden eagles moved in from the mainland, lured by the island’s year-round food supply of feral pigs. The foxes, which had evolved as the top dog on the island, made an easy target for the golden eagles, which hunted them close to extinction.

In 2004, 10 pairs of foxes were rounded up and bred in captivity, while the Park Service and the Conservancy began a multimillion-dollar effort to restore the island’s ecological balance. Golden eagles were captured and relocated. Bald eagle chicks were introduced and set free on the island. Non-native feral pigs and sheep, which had overgrazed the island’s plants, were completely eradicated.

Today, the signs of recovery are everywhere, including fox tracks and scat and new shoots of plants that can be found only on Santa Cruz. “The island has really come alive,” says Vermeer. “We see a lot of succulents and other native plants that we just didn’t see much before.” She points out new oak seedlings, which have begun to spring up around the island now that the acorn-eating pigs are gone.

The partnership with the Park Service has been crucial, says Vermeer. While the Conservancy was able to mobilize resources quickly, the Park Service has shared unparalleled support and expertise. “It’s a new model for endangered-species recovery,” she says.

The restoration efforts have been so successful that Vermeer hopes the fox will be removed from the endangered species list in 5 to 10 years. Even Santa Cruz’s bald eagles are making a comeback: At last count, seven pairs of nesting birds now call the island home.

— Curtis Runyan