Ancient Story

Water

The Ocean as a Geographic Factor

A Dynamic Geography

The Santa Ynez Mountains

The Northern Channel

Suggested ways to see these geographic formations

The Southern Channel Islands

Looking at the California Channel Islands region today, it is the surface differences that strike the eye. Towering mountains marching right down to the sea, flat plains that are agricultural basins, valleys filled with homes, islands out in the sea, and vast development in the Los Angeles basin and surrounding valleys.

But what we don’t immediately see is the geography that connected the entire region. From a bird’s eye view ( or a satellite image ) we could see the undersea canyons that extend from the shoreline out in to the Channel, and the underwater ridges that extend out to become the mountaintops we call the Channel Islands.

Let’s look at the influences that shape the physical form - geography - of the Channel Island region.

Mainland and Islands

The Channel region begins in the North at Point Conception, the northwestern-most promontory before the California coast makes a turn to follow an east-west direction. Point Conception was an important geographic feature for the Native Americans in pre history - it was considered the gate through which their souls passed to enter the other world after death. For the European explores and colonizers, it was the point around which one turned one’s ship - with great caution ( hence the name Devil’s Jaws ) - off the Pacific Ocean to enter into the hopefully calmer seas of the Channel.

From Point Conception, the Santa Ynez Mountains reach down the coast, parallel to the shoreline, providing a dramatic sand stone rich backdrop to the Santa Barbara and Ventura coastal communities. Running parallel to the Santa Ynez Mountains, out across the Santa Barbara channel lie the northern Channel Islands- Santa Cruz the largest, then Santa Rosa to its west, and still further west is San Miguel.

Following the coast as it starts to turn south, with the Santa Ynez Mountains as a backdrop, with steep coastal terraces ( subject to recent landslides in rainy weather ) dropping right down to the sea, Anacapa Island appears on the horizon with its three separate islets. Ventura is actually closer to Santa Cruz Island than Santa Barbara, and during the ice age, was less than five miles from Anacapa Island.

At the southern end of the Oxnard plains the Santa Monica Mountains become the backdrop of the coastal communities that begin again at Malibu and extend down into Santa Monica. These mountains are actually the range of mountains that is most directly connected to the northern California Channel Islands. Rounding the Point at Point Magu, now a naval weapons development and testing location, but in prehistory a large village called Muwu, the sandstone of the Santa Ynez range gives way to rocks of volcanic origin and the rugged cliffs hug the cost right down to the shoreline.

From the Santa Monica mountains, the geography opens up to the vast Los Angeles basin, a huge valley that inland leads to other valleys that were home to Channel residents for thousands of years before the arrival of European and American settlers – San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel valley, and the San Bernardino Valley. Out across the San Pedro Channel, Catalina beckons, and beyond her, San Clemente to the South, and San Nicholas further to the southwest. Tiny Santa Barbara Island perches directly due west from the tip of Catalina.

Ancient Story

Underlying the geography we se today is an ancient story – hundreds of thousands of years of geologic time. Volcanic activity has been noted in the region until fairly recent times – from the upthrusts under the ocean that brought magma from the earth’s inner core to the sea bed surface, to vents along the Santa Barbara shoreline observed in the last 100 years. This volcanic activity is recorded on the Channel Islands most clearly – with submarine lava flows still evident in the rock on Anacapa Island, and Santa Barbara Island actually being the tip of a Miocene era volcano!

Another force that has shaped the geography of the Channel over time has been seismic activities – often dramatic events that can in a single day raise mountain levels 30 feet – and suddenly create tall ridges and deep valleys where there were none a few hours before. The region is laced with earthquake faults endemic to the entire Pacific Rim – also called The Ring of Fire. The motion on these faults has uplifted the mountain ranges we see today both on the mainland and also out on the islands.

And there is even another factor influencing the geography we see today – the forces of water and weather. The rivers and streams in the region often follow the earthquake faults as they seek the fastest downhill slope towards the sea from the peaks of the highest mountains and course along arroyos and riverbeds. The weather of the region – wind and rain in a particular – has been shaping the sandstone Santa Ynez Mountains, sometimes forming amazing wind caves and teetering boulders set incredibly atop narrow spikes of stone.

Water

Water is one the most currently debated geographic issues in the California Channel region today. The population based has expanded far beyond the locally available water supply, and at the beginning of the 20^th century, dark, smoky room deals were made to channel water from the Colorado River to southern California to promote massive development. Lives were lost, fortunes made, and several ecosystems irreparably damaged in the process of bringing water to California’s expanded southern populations.

In recent years the State Water project has begun pumping water from Northern California down into southern California. These artificial sources of water have changed the region's population base, development patterns, and the natural environment permanently. Lost have been the local natural plants and animals that once thrived in the streams and tributaries of the natural watercourses – crowded out by development or worse, poisoned to death by industrial and residential pollution. Gone also are vast stretches of Colorado River canyons and Northern California natural environments as the water is robbed from its original sources to be redirected to feed the expansive growth in southern California.

In prehistoric times –and during the early years of European and American colonization, there were actually salmon in the Santa Ynez River ! Abundant salmon that returned to spawn each year, entering the river near Point Conception. And the streams that flowed into the sea at Gaviota, Refugio and other points down the coast also supported steelhead trout and salmon populations that were an important element in the early ecosystem of the region. Changes in water use patterns – the building of damns that choke off the water paths to the sea, and are impenetrable during the remarkable upstream spawning cycle of these fish, have brought an end to thousands of years of natural aquatic life cycles.

Entire estuaries have been nearly filled with earth to build airports and industrial enters in California’s growing cities. For example, the rich environment of the Goleta slough – where fresh mountain stream waters met the Pacific – was lost in the building of he Santa Barbara airport in the 1920s. This was the site where Spanish explorers found one of the largest Native American cities in California – thousands of people were living on island mounds that were surrounded by streams coursing to the seas. The estuary was rich with wildlife – birds, frogs, fish – and was the basis for the Chumash ability to live directly from the land with out a need to develop agricultural practices – they lived by hunting and gathering in this prolific natural environment. When the airport was built, the mounds were leveled – invaluable artifacts were lost – the streams were blocked, and now only a small trickle of water compared to its previous rich wetlands still reaches the sea.

If we were to see the Channel region in prehistory, its watercourses would look very different than today. The natural streams and river networks were sufficient to support thousands of Chumash and Gabrielinos for generations. But it would not have been able to support the massive development that has occurred since California became a member of the United States. ( Camp Internet headquarters, by the way, run off of well water in the Santa Ynez Valley as an effort to maintain a traditional balance between land use and water consumption ).

The Ocean as a Geographic Factor

The sea itself has tremendous influence on the nature of the region’s geography. The pounding surface is changing the shoreline very day. And in the El Nino years – seven year cycles of unusual weather patterns – entire stretches of coastline can be reshaped as cliffs fall, natural arches are lost, and the coastline changes. The surf moves entire beaches, throws massive rocks at will, and delivers more than 90% of American goods to the shores of this country. It is a natural and an economic force with tremendous consequences on our lives in many ways.

What happens when people try to change the coastal geography ? For example, the Santa Barbara breakwater was built to form a more protective harbor on the mainland. Rocks were quarried on the islands and brought to the mainland to form the jetty that protects the ships anchored in the Santa Barbara harbor. But this jetty has caused massive changes in the shoreline. The beaches that used to exist above and below the jetty have lost their natural contours – some almost completely robbed of sand. The harbor itself is so inundated with sand that should have moved along in its natural path, that millions of dollars are spent dredging the harbor each decade to keep the harbor open.

A Dynamic Geography

The Channel Islands region is a very dynamic environment geographically. Between the long term geologic changes, the short term effect of earthquakes, the long term impact of weather and water erosion, and the short-term changes caused by El Nino – change is a constant along the Channel. This fluid physical reality has impacted on the human inhabitants who have for years sought the medicinal properties of the areas thermal hot springs, the beauty of the expansive coastline, the dramatic views from the mountain ridge tops, and have pondered the mysteries that lie on the remote islands seen offshore.

The Santa Ynez Mountains

This mountain range is unique geographically as it is one of the few mountain ranges anywhere on the western coast of the Americas that runs east to west. Most mountain ranges on the North and South American continent run north to south. Due to the east – west position of the mountains the entire northern Channel region experiences a unique geography and climate pattern – a bioregion with distinct plant and animal life for thousands of years. The mountains provide a buffer from the colder northern weather patterns – creating a microclimate where it is possible to grow bananas and other frost sensitive tropical plants. And this milder weather impacts on the geography by limiting the severity of the storms that impact of the weathering of the region.

The Northern Channel

If you were to drain the water from the Santa Barbara Channel, we would see that the 2-3,000’ high Santa Ynez Mountains are the northern side of a valley that extends across the Channel to be paralleled by the mountain peaks on Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands. Between these two parallel mountain ranges we would find the marine terraces and mesas that now hold the urban development of the region, and then further out we would see a vast network of marine canyons surrounding the eight islands all the way down to San Clemente in the far south. And between these canyons and the island mountaintops are submerged mountains not tall enough to break sea level, but tall enough to create major divides between the undersea canyons.

Suggested ways to see these geographic formations:

From the San Marcos Pass that allows passage between the coastal and interior valleys, and the transverse Camino Cielo Road the runs its ridgetop, it is self evident that you are witnessing a mountaintop-to-mountaintop view connecting you on the top of the Santa Ynez mountains to the peaks of Santa Cruz Island. It is quite a breathtaking experience to come up the Pass from the Santa Ynez inland valley, drop over the peak, and then suddenly see the islands spread out before you as counterparts to the mountain range you are driving on. One of the best views in California.

Another way to understand the relationship between the islands, and between the islands and the mainland, is to observe the geography of the region during a commuter plane trip between Los Angeles Airport and the Santa Barbara Airport, The pilots follow a flight path out over the channel that makes evident the comparatively close relationship of the islands and the mainland when viewed from the air. And the islands look very different from the air than from the ground – the actual topography of the islands is see most accurately from the air, and the effects of visual distortion caused by fogs and mist, by the distances between the shoreline and the actual islands, is lifted so you can see the actual mountains, marine terraces, and rocky promontories of this remarkable island chain come into clear view.

The Southern Channel Islands

Santa Catalina, San Clemente, San Nicolas and Santa Barbara Islands are not on the strict east-west axis as are their northern counterparts. They are positioned northwest-to-southeast, almost exactly 45 degrees off true north, a run parallel to their own coastline that is changing from the east-west shoreline below point conception to the north – south shoreline as it approaches the border into Mexico and Baja California. In order to find a counterpart to the southern islands’ position, it is necessary to enlarge one’s view of the geography to also include the Baja peninsula, climactically part of California, but nationally part of Mexico.

Breaking the Sonoran desert of southern California, Baja California, and into mainland Mexico and Arizona, are mountain chains formed by seismic faulting over hundreds of thousands of years. These mountains march towards the Pacific Ocean in their furthest-most western reaches, extending parallel to the islands up into the Santa Ana Mountains, southeast of Ls Angeles. Out on the islands, Catalina has two main peaks that reach over 2,000 feet – the tallest on the islands. San Clemente’s main peak is 1,965 feet above sea level.