Views of Santa Cruz

Most of the island of Santa Cruz is wild and undeveloped. It is said that it provides a glimpse of what California on the mainland was like before it was settled and developed by Europeans. This island itself covers 62,000 acres and is 22 miles long. Santa Cruz, of course, means "Holy Cross" in Spanish. The island was given its name in 1769 when Juan Perez, who was captain of de Portola's fleet, claimed the island for Spain. On a visit to the island a priest left a staff with a cross at its head on the island, which was later returned by the Chumash, giving rise to the island's modern name.

The island of Santa Cruz is topographically diverse, dominated by mountainous ridges, such as the one shown below. One such feature, the Montanon Ridge, an 1800 foot high ridge, divides the eastern isthmus of the island from the larger western section. Santa Cruz has the highest point of any of the islands, at more than 2400 feet, which is well west of the views shown below. A major central valley, and the Santa Cruz Island fault, are other major characteristics of the island.

The east end of the island, a portion of which is shown below, is somewhat barren in appearance, but the island does get about 20 inches of rain per year, mostly in the winter. Trees that exist tend to grow on the northern facing slopes. Actually, the island supports some 650 species of plants and trees. Santa Cruz has more plant species than the other Channel Islands, including 60 which are endemic to this Island.

Chumash Indians maintained a year-around residence on the island. It is believed that the Chumash lived here for over 11,000 years, a number which is hard to comprehend since the period since the arrival of Europeans has been only 300 years or so.

Santa Cruz Island is, for the most part, currently in an undeveloped state. Originally, 80-90% of the land was covered by shrubs and trees. However, settlers on the island raised sheep, cattle, horses, pigs, olives, wine grapes, and vegetables, and these activities had a profound effect on the vegetation of the island. Sheep ranching began in the early 1850's. At present, the land is covered by largely non-native European grazing grasses and weeds. On the island, 25% of the plants on the island are non-native, and these plants provide 90% of the ground cover. It is the goal of the National Park Service to restore native vegetation on the islands, so invasive weeds and feral pigs are currently being removed. 8,500 acres of the isthmus area of the eastern end of the island was given to the National Park Service in 2000.

Many national parks were created to preserve unspoiled wilderness resources. However, because of the effects of human settlement and activity on the island environment, particularly the effects of the grazing of sheep and cattle, the park could be classified as natural, but not pristine. Feral sheep and pigs may still be found in some places on the island.

Santa Cruz, unlike Anacapa Island, contains some trees, including pines, live oaks, tagon, islay, island cherry, island oaks, some cottonwood, big leaf maples, willow, and other types. These trees tend to grow in canyons the temperature is lower, it is damper, and growing trees are sheltered from the wind.

The trees shown below cluster around the Scorpion Canyon campground, located about a half mile inland and up the canyon from the Scorpion Anchorage. This area is sheltered by the hills and ridges which surround the canyon. The campground contains 40 campsites and includes toilets and the only potable, running water in the area.

The campground is located in one of two groves of eucalyptus trees, shown below. These blue gum eucalyptus trees are not native to the island but were planted by the owners and ranchers in the 1880's and used for shade, fuel, pilings for construction of piers, and other uses. Although the trees are non-native, they are not invasive, and have not spread wildly across the landscape. The trail below, running toward the campground, is the inland section of the Cavern Point Trail, and follows the route of a road first built in the 1870's.

The view below looks back toward Anacapa Island, seen in the distance, and beyond that to the mainland of California 25 miles from Santa Cruz. This view from Scorpion Bluffs across the marine terrace looks out across across Scorpion Rocks. As in other places, the native vegetation in this area was devasted by the effects of sheep grazing.