8: Emerald Isles

As national parks go, the one looming off the Ventura coast was exceptionally noteworthy.

From distant San Miguel to nearby Anacapa, the island archipelago of Channel Islands National Park was in the news all year.

First, in January, park rangers swooped down commando-style from a Blackhawk helicopter into two hunting camps run by a private Santa Cruz Island concessionaire.

The assault capped a two-year inquiry into grave-digging by a ranch caretaker and ended in a felony conviction. But critics claimed the airborne assault was an unnecessary show of force that could have led to bloodshed.

Just three weeks later, on the same rugged end of Santa Cruz Island, the National Park Service seized a historic 6,300-acre sheep ranch that had been the missing link in Southern California’s first national park. What would happen to the island’s 13 wild horses, 200 feral pigs and 3,000 sheep was debated for months--with most of the sheep finally being shipped to the mainland for adoption or sale. The horses remain, at least temporarily, to the delight of park visitors. Meanwhile, Santa Cruz has become a gateway to the park--luring more families and boaters than ever before.

On Anacapa and Santa Barbara islands, a graceful prehistoric bird once nearly extinct continued an impressive comeback as brown pelicans courted and nested and 3,000 fledglings spread their wings by late summer.

Yet, 50 miles off the Ventura coast, El Nino drove the food of seals and sea lions away and by December had littered San Miguel Island beaches with thousands of dead or dying sea mammals.