The northern Channel Islands lie south of Santa Barbara and Ventura, off the coast of southern California, and their peaks looming offshore are a familiar sight to millions residents of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. For a variety of reasons, they have remained virtually undeveloped, and thus represent some of the best examples of aspects of pre-settlement southern California. Four are arranged in an east-west chain, San Miguel (9000 acres), Santa Rosa (50,000 acres), Santa Cruz (60,000 acres) and tiny Anacapa (700 acres). Santa Barbara (640 acres) lies to the southeast, and San Nicolas (13,000 acres), southwest of here, is the most isolated of the islands. Santa Catalina Island (a.k.a. Catalina, 50,000 acres), to the southeast, is due south of Los Angeles. All except Catalina are managed by the federal government, with San Nicolas operated as a U.S. Navy Base and the remaining five under Channel Islands National Park. The waters off the northern islands, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa and Santa Barbara have also been recognized as one of three National Marine Sanctuaries (NOAA) in California. Nearly 90% of Catalina is owned by the non-profit Santa Catalina Island Conservancy, a conservation group, and it is the only island with a permanent town, Avalon. Both Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz have in-holdings of private land (large ranches) that pre-date their park designation.

(note: Islands were mapped with a 1-mile buffer)

Of the sensitive endemic taxa found within the Channel Islands, their distribution is as follows: Catalina California Quail (native to Catalina and introduced to Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa, fide Garrett and Dunn 1981), Island Loggerhead Shrike (all except San Nicolas), Catalina Hutton's Vireo (Santa Catalina), San Clemente Spotted Towhee (Santa Catalina and Santa Rosa), Santa Cruz Island Rufous-crowned Sparrow (Santa Cruz and Anacapa) and Channel Islands Song Sparrow (San Miguel and Santa Rosa). Island Scrub-Jay occurs only on Santa Cruz Island. This IBA is the most important seabird nesting area in southern California, with birds concentrated on coastal bluffs and on large offshore rocks around each island (except San Nicolas and Catalina). Three seabird taxa, California Brown Pelican, Black Storm-Petrel and Xantus' Murrelet nest regularly here. The population of Brown Pelicans represents about 10% of the global population of the californicus race. The entire U.S. breeding population of Xantus' Murrelet is confined to the Channel Islands, with the largest colony on Santa Barbara Isl. (1400 birds, Carter et al. 1992). Tiny Prince Island, off San Miguel Isl., hosts nearly 20% the state's breeding Cassin's Auklets (c. 9,000, Carter et al. 1992). Rhinoceros Auklet and Tufted Puffin formerly bred more widely within this IBA, but were extirpated by introduced pests except for a remnant population on and around San Miguel Isl. (Carter et al. 1992). The northern Channel Islands population of Snowy Plovers (breeding on Santa Rosa, San Miguel and San Nicolas Isl.) is one of the largest concentrations of the coastal-breeding Western Snowy Plover. Most of the breeding Peregrine Falcons in southern California nest here. Burrowing Owl, Mountain Plover and Pacific Golden-Plover winter on the grasslands of San Nicolas (W. Wehtje, pers. comm.).

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Overgrazing (by sheep, goats and cattle) has been a historical problem for this IBA, but largely through the efforts of the National Park Service, this threat has been isolated to Santa Rosa Island and a small portion of Santa Cruz Island. Predation of ground nesting seabird nests by exotic rats remains an issue, recently addressed by an eradication effort 2002 on Anacapa Isl. Most recently, avian conservation battles have been waged over high-powered lights from night-fishing squid boats and their potentially deleterious effects on nesting seabirds. Rare oil spills have resulted to impacts to some seabirds here, particularly Brown Pelican (SH). Other threats to pelagic seabirds include "oil and gas development, busy shipping lanes in nearby waters, non-point source pollution, and commercial and recreational fishing" (http://www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov/oms/omschannel/omschannel.html).