Park Vibes 319K views
Views updated Oct 19, 2026, from YouTube
Off the coast of California, 50 miles from Orange County, there's an island you cannot visit. The Navy has been dropping bombs on it for nearly a century. And it is now home to species found nowhere else on the planet — five of which were just removed from the Endangered Species List.
7 sources
11 claims
Every claim below links to the sources behind it. Peer-reviewed research and public records come first.
San Clemente Island is the southernmost California Channel Island, about 56 square miles, 64 miles west of San Diego.
The island is a Navy range used for live bombing, missile launches and live-fire training.
The Navy took control of the island in 1934.
Introduced goats, sheep, pigs and cattle devastated native vegetation from the 1800s onward.
In 1977 the San Clemente loggerhead shrike, Bell's sparrow and endemic plants were listed under the ESA.
The shrike recovery program includes predator control, captive breeding and release, habitat restoration and supplemental feeding.
Shrike pairs given food supplements plus rodent control produced on average 2.5 more fledglings per year than control pairs.
In January 2023 the USFWS removed five San Clemente Island species (Bell's sparrow, paintbrush, lotus, larkspur and bush-mallow) from the endangered list due to recovery.
Some plant occurrences in bombardment areas can't be surveyed because of unexploded ordnance.
The Navy runs a greenhouse that propagates native plants, and Navy biologist Melissa Booker works on the island's species programs.
Delisted species are subject to at least five years of post-delisting monitoring.
Keegan, D.R., Coblentz, B.E., Winchell, C.S.. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (proceedings volume eds. W.L. Halvorson & G.J. Maender), 1994
PDF hosted by Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
Conservation Evidence (study summary), 2008
Summary of the peer-reviewed study.
Hudgens, B.R., Johnston, N.N., Bradley, J.E., Bridges, A.S.. Proceedings of the 7th California Islands Symposium (Institute for Wildlife Studies), pp. 315–325, 2009
PDF hosted by Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Federal Register, 2023
Final rule published January 25, 2023; effective February 24, 2023.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2023
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
PBS, 2025
Aired July 9, 2025.
New films and field notes. No spam.
