Anacapa Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, on the entrance to

Santa Barbara Channel The Santa Barbara Channel is a portion of the Southern California Bight and separates the mainland of California from the northern Channel Islands. It is generally south of the city of Santa Barbara, and west of the Oxnard Plain in Ventura Cou ...

. Constructed in 1912, it was the last major light station built on the west coast. Anacapa and several other islands were collectively designated as Channel Islands National Monument in 1938, though the Coast Guard retained responsibility for the Anacapa lighthouse. Now fully automated and unmanned, the light house still operates, but the National Park Service (NPS) is responsible for

Channel Islands National Park Channel Islands National Park consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. Although the islands are close to the shore of the densely populated state, they have been relatively undevelope ...

. Anacapa Island is noted now for an environmental restoration program devised by the NPS to exterminate the large population of non-native rats which infested the island and was making significant inroads on native species. The program, which began in 2003, selectively killed off the invaders with few adverse effects on the non-targeted native wildlife species. By 2014, after careful examination of the island, NPS could declare it rat-free.

History

Positioned at the eastern entrance to the Santa Barbara Channel, Anacapa was a natural choice for a lighthouse. The Lighthouse Board decided to place a light on the island, but to limit the expense of building an offshore beacon, an unmanned acetylene lens lantern on a tower was erected in 1912. In 1932, the current permanent light station was built on the island, and was the last major light station to be built on the west coast. The tower and fog signal were built on the highest point of the island. In 1938, under the direction of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Santa Barbara and Anacapa Islands became Channel Islands National Monument. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

automated the station in 1966. In 1980, Congress designated five of the eight Channel Islands, Anacapa, Santa Cruz,

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, San Miguel, and

Santa Barbara Island Santa Barbara Island (Spanish: ''Isla de Santa Bárbara''; Tongva: ''Tchunashngna'') is a small island of the Channel Islands archipelago in Southern California. It is protected within Channel Islands National Park, and its marine ecosystem ...

s, and of submerged lands as Channel Islands National Park. The lighthouse is still an active aid to navigation. Historical Information from Coast Guard web site:

Current usage

The buildings other than the lighthouse are now being utilized by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

Geography

Anacapa is the smallest and the nearest of the Channel Islands to the mainland. It is across the Santa Barbara Channel from the nearest point on the mainland. It lies southwest of the city of Ventura.''Anacapa Island Restoration Project''. Channel Islands National Park. Final Environmental Impact Statement. Date not stated.
Accessed July 21, 2018

Image gallery

Image:Aerial-AnacapaLight.jpg, Aerial photo 2009 Image:USCGanacapa.JPG, U.S. Coast Guard archive photo. Image:East Anacapa Structures at Sunset.jpg, Lighthouse and National Park structures at sunset. File:Anacapa Island Lighthouse.jpg, Looking across

towards mainland, 2019.

References

External links