{"id":327081,"date":"2026-05-22T01:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/327081\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T01:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:23:17","slug":"rare-species-threatened-by-devastating-california-island-wildfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/327081\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare species threatened by devastating California island wildfire"},"content":{"rendered":"

A massive wildfire raging across California<\/a>\u2019s remote Santa Rosa Island is threatening some of the rarest plant species on Earth, including a unique strain of Torrey pine found in only two places worldwide.<\/p>\n

The Santa Rosa Island Fire had scorched 17,554 acres and was 44% contained as of 4 p.m. Thursday, nearly a week after flames first erupted<\/a> on May 15 on the island\u2019s rugged southeastern terrain southwest of Santa Barbara.<\/p>\n

\"Satellite<\/p>\n

Satellite view of a fire burning on Santa Rosa Island. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

\"Brush<\/p>\n

Brush fires on Santa Rosa Island Storyful.com<\/p>\n

Fire crews battling the blaze<\/a> inside Channel Islands National Park have already confirmed the destruction of at least three historic structures, including Johnson\u2019s Lee Equipment Shed, a nearby storage building and the Wreck Line Camp Cabin.<\/p>\n

Now attention is turning to the island\u2019s fragile ecosystem, particularly the Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine, described by the National Park Service as \u201cthe rarest native pine in the United States\u201d and \u201cpossibly, the rarest pine in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A sunset view of a Torrey Pine tree US PGA TOUR<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Torrey pine tree Getty Images<\/p>\n

The species naturally grows only on Santa Rosa Island and near San Diego.<\/p>\n

Initial damage assessments released Wednesday offered a small dose of relief: officials said the island\u2019s Torrey pine groves \u201cstill exist and remain largely intact.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the update also warned that \u201csome small pockets of the Torrey Pines did burn with higher intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was not immediately known how many Torrey pines grow on the island, or whether damaged trees can be restored and if additional rare plant species suffered major losses in the fire.<\/p>\n

According to the agency, the Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine is classified as a separate subspecies because of \u201cthousands of years of isolation on Santa Rosa\u201d and its extremely limited habitat range.<\/p>\n

\"Ethan<\/p>\n

Ethan McKinley, Superintendent of Channel Islands National Park nps.gov<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

Aerial photo of Santa Rosa Island looking northwest. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"Brush<\/p>\n

Brush fires on Santa Rosa Island burning along the coastline. Storyful.com<\/p>\n

The fire is also threatening several rare and endangered plants unique to the island, including Santa Rosa Island Manzanita, Santa Rosa Island Live-forever, Hoffmann\u2019s Gilia, Munchkin Dudleya and Island Tree Mallow.<\/p>\n

Wildlife populations could also be at risk, including island foxes, island spotted skunks and island deer mice.<\/p>\n

Investigators are examining whether the wildfire may have started after a stranded mariner used an SOS flare following a shipwreck.<\/p>\n

The blaze forced the closure of Channel Islands National Park as firefighters work to stop flames from advancing toward the historic Main Ranch structures, a scenario officials fear could become catastrophic.<\/p>\n

Santa Rosa Island, the second-largest of the Channel Islands at 84 square miles, is known for its isolated wilderness, steep peaks, white-sand beaches and rare ecosystems.<\/p>\n

The island features Soledad Peak, rising 1,574 feet, and Black Mountain at 1,298 feet, along with deep canyons, sea cliffs and miles of hiking trails that cut through one of California\u2019s most remote landscapes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A massive wildfire raging across California\u2019s remote Santa Rosa Island is threatening some of the rarest plant species…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,129870,5875,133789,135932],"class_list":["post-327081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-channel-islands-national-park","tag-santa-barbara","tag-santa-rosa-island","tag-torrey-pine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}