Fish & Wildlife Service
California/Nevada Operations Office
Disclaimer
Management
Birds / Marine Mammals / Plants / Other
Management activities on the island include invasive plant control and habitat improvement. Invasive plant species on the island compete with natives and degrade habitat available to burrow nesting seabirds such as Cassin’s and rhinoceros auklets. Dense stands of annual grasses and mat-forming New Zealand spinach make areas unavailable to potential nesters by blocking access to the soil. Habitat improvement is an ongoing process. The island accumulated a large amount of junk debris from the decades of human occupation. The refuge, with assistance from the Coast Guard and others, has managed to remove most of the debris. Building foundations and abandoned pipelines can still be seen in certain areas.
A “habitat sculpture” was built in 2002 by Meadowsweet Dairy using broken up cement around a steel frame to create habitat for crevice nesting seabirds. Nest boxes with plexiglass backs were placed between chunks of the abandoned concrete to facilitate monitoring activities. Cassin’s auklets nested in the boxes in the first season after completion and pigeon guillemots moved in the second year.
In 2000 boardwalks were built in cooperation with several partners at strategic locations across the island to prevent field station staff from crushing burrows during daily activities. The boardwalks were constructed using an “auklet through” design to provide spaces for seabirds to excavate burrows between planks. Density of burrows along the boardwalks is higher then natural areas after only three years. Projects on the horizon include creation of a murre nesting ledge from concrete rubble, continued removal of debris, and reconstructing the trail to the lighthouse to make it more bird friendly.
With the exception of food and propane for cooking, the island is a self-sufficient station. The Coast Guard stopped supplying the island with water and diesel in 1998 leaving refuge staff to find new ways of providing water and electricity. Until then water and diesel were pumped from boats to storage tanks and diesel was pumped from boats. Noisy, often unreliable generators to provided electricity. It was decided that collecting rain water could solve the water problem and converting to solar would dramatically reduce the diesel consumption.
Management
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