Description: Aerial Information Systems, Inc. (AIS) was contracted by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to create a vegetation map of Santa Cruz Island (SCI). The study area is approximately 62,000 acres (96 square miles).
Santa Cruz Island is divided between TNC and the National Park Service (NPS). TNC owns and manages the western 76% of the island; the eastern 24% is owned and managed by the NPS.
Santa Cruz is the largest island off the coast of California. Located between Anacapa and Santa Rosa Islands, it lies from 19-25 miles off the adjacent mainland coast between Ventura and Santa Barbara.
The scenic beauty of Santa Cruz is reflected in its many landforms; rugged mountain ranges, the highest peaks on the Channel Islands, deep canyons, a central valley, year-round springs and streams, plus 77 miles of craggy coastline cliffs, giant sea caves, pristine tidepools and expansive beaches. Lying directly on the boundary between cold northern and warm southern waters, this island hosts unique plant, animal, and marine communities representing nearly 1000 miles of coastline (NPS, 2005). Santa Cruz is the most rugged and topographically diverse of the Northern Channel Islands dominated by two longitudinal ridges (the North and South ridges) running in an east-west direction and intervening valley (the Central Valley), which is 12.5 miles long.
During the last 150 years, the composition and distribution of vegetation on Santa Cruz Island has been greatly altered by large numbers of feral grazing animals, cultivation, disturbance, and the introduction of alien plant taxa. Only in the last decade has plant life begin to recover since the last grazing activities on the island ceased. Damage from grazing related activities is especially evident on the eastern half of the island, and is also prevalent on the west side, though to a lesser degree.
Since 2006, several thousand feral pigs have been fully eradicated from the island and signs of recovery are already noted in the increased wildflowers this spring (March 2007), including some fairly extensive stands of Dodecatheon on the isthmus. Recovery from the animal’s rooting damage is already noticeable, especially under the canopies of oaks in grassy settings.
In addition to mapping the floristic composition of the island, AIS has mapped cover density for each of the major plant life forms (conifers, hardwoods and shrubs) associated with the mapped vegetation stand. It is hoped that this will provide a useful recovery-monitoring tool in assessing the increased woody vegetative components since the time grazing-related activities and feral pig damage have stopped.