Early history

The ancestors of the Chumash Indians lived on Santa Rosa for many thousands of years, establishing numerous village sites along the coast and in the interior. Recent research has documented the presence of maritime Paleocoastal peoples on the island at least 12,000 years ago.^[3]

The Chumash called the driftwood that washed up on the sandy beaches by the channel currents wimal. The logs were used to build tomols (plank canoes).

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's crew visited the island after his death, and found three Chumash villages, containing a total of 40-50 people. They called their island Wima, but George Vancouver listed it as Santa Rosa on his 1792 chart. He reported that this name appeared on a Spanish chart in his possession.^[4] Franciscan missionaries baptized a large number in 1822 and most were removed to their Mission Santa Barbara and Mission San Buenaventura by the late 1820s.^{[5]: 55–56}

Land grants

George Nidever hunted sea otters for their pelts in the late 1830s and 1840s, under a license granted by the Mexican government to William Dana.^[5]: 57

Governor Manuel Micheltorena made a Mexican land grant of the island of Santa Rosa to brothers José Antonio Carrillo and Carlos Antonio Carrillo in 1843. They gave the island to Carlos' daughters, Manuela Carrillo de Jones and Francisca Carrillo de Thompson. Their husbands, John Coffin Jones (1796–1861) and Alpheus Basil Thompson (1795–1869), entered into a partnership to manage the island.

In 1852, the Channel Islands were ceded to the United States by Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the Mexican–American War. Also in 1852, a claim was filed with the Public Land Commission,^[6] but the grant was not patented to Manuela Carrillo de Jones and Francisca Carrillo de Thompson until 1871,^[7] though a district court confirmed clear title in 1856. Then, the Thompson-Jones partnership started to come apart in 1857. By 1870, the More brothers, consisting of Thomas Wallace (T.W.), Alexander (A.P.), and Henry had bought out all of the interests, and A.P. and Henry became joint owners of the island. They transformed the island into a large sheep ranch, with headquarters at Bechers Bay.^{[5]: 58–63}

20th century

The More family sold the island to Walter L. Vail and John V. Vickers in 1902. The Vail and Vickers Company transformed the sheep ranch into a cattle fattening operation.^{[5]: 67–90}

The United States Army leased 46 acres for a radar post during WW II, and erected 16 buildings for 75 men, between Jan. and Aug. 1943. The site was abandoned after the end of the war. The United States Air Force built a 200-man, early-warning radar site in 1952 during the Cold War. At the same time, the United States Navy built a communication station on 4.5 acres on Navy Hill, to track missiles launched from Point Mugu NAS. The Air Force cancelled its lease in 1963.^{[5]: 93–95}

Standard Oil Company obtained an exploration lease in 1932, but came up empty. Richfield Oil Company in 1938, and Superior Oil Company in 1947 were equally unsuccessful. In 1971 Mobil Oil Corporation obtained a lease and drilled six unsuccessful wells, plugging and abandoning the last one in 1975.^[5]

National park

In 1980, Santa Rosa Island was included within Channel Islands National Park over the objections of Vail & Vickers, which then successfully lobbied to have the legislation stipulate that purchase of their land would be the highest priority of the Channel Islands National Park. Vail & Vickers sold the island in 1986 for nearly $30 million. Subsequently, the National Park Service issued a series of five-year renewable special use permits.^[8] Threatened lawsuits in 1996 resulted in a settlement agreement, which included the end of all hunting and ranching operations, such that only one steer remained by 1998. Vail's 25 year use and occupancy agreement ended in December 2011.^{[5]: 96–97}

In 2006 U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) introduced a provision into the annual defense policy bill that would allow disabled veterans to continue hunting elk on the island past 2011, without the consent of Vail & Vickers or the National Park Service. The provision stayed in the bill and was signed into law by President George W. Bush. This legislation was repealed by the next Congress as part of the FY 2007 Omnibus appropriations bill,^[9] also signed into law by President George W. Bush.

CSUCI Research Station

In November 2012 the National Park Service (NPS) issued a permit to California State University, Channel Islands (CSUCI) to operate a field research station on Santa Rosa Island. The mission of the CSUCI Santa Rosa Island Research Station (SRIRS) is "to encourage and advance the interdisciplinary knowledge and stewardship of our natural and cultural resources through long-term research, inquiry-based education, and public outreach. (...) (and) to react energetically, adeptly, and successfully to our changing natural and human landscapes."^[10]