Mastodawn

A fire on a small boat that ran aground on Santa Rosa in Channel Islands National Park caused a wildfire that burned one third of the island. Investigation reveals that the boat had run aground on another island a week prior and was found by Coast Guard to lack safety equipment.
#santarosaislandfire
#channelislandsnationalpark
https://www.independent.com/2026/06/04/new-details-emerge-about-leadup-to-largest-fire-in-channel-islands-history/

New Details Emerge About Leadup to Largest Fire in Channel Islands History

The mariner ran aground on Santa Cruz Island the week his beached boat caught fire on Santa Rosa Island, according to the Coast Guard.

The Santa Barbara Independent

KnowAttitude May 28

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is the official seed bank of Channel Islands National Park, holding the largest collection of seeds from Channel Island plants across California, including all the rare plant species that are in the path of fire.

The seed bank acts as an “insurance policy” that the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and others keep in case they need to do any replanting in its conservation grove.

“Thanks to those efforts, we have a nice repository of seeds that we can use to either do seeding or grow plants and put plants back out on Santa Rosa Island if we find that we need that after we’re able to evaluate the impacts of the fire,” Schneider said.

https://www.newspress.com/2026/05/27/sb-botanic-garden-conservation-director-santa-rosa-island-fire-a-wake-up-call/

#SantaRosaIslandFire

SB Botanic Garden conservation director: Santa Rosa Island fire a ‘wake-up call’

Firefighters have contained 97% of the fire, which, driven by high-powered winds, spread to over 18,300 acres, torching through one-third of the island

Santa Barbara News-Press

AI6YR Ben May 25

Santa Rosa Island Fire on May 20th, 2026.

(showrtwave infrared)

#SantaRosaIslandFire #SantaRosaIsland #RemoteSensing #GIS

AI6YR Ben May 24

#SantaRosaIslandFire #SantaRosaIsland #NPS