Isla San Pedro remains primarily undeveloped with 33.46 kilometers (20.79 miles) of road encircling the perimeter leading to beaches.

[citation needed] Isla San Pedro is home to Chucao tapaculos (Scelorchilus rubecula), black-necked swans (Cygnus melancoryphus), slender-billed parakeets (Enicognathus leptorhynchus), pelicans, cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae), and Chilean pigeons (Patagioenas araucana).

Charles Darwin visited Isla San Pedro in 1834 and later wrote of his experience in The Voyage of the Beagle.

[2] Darwin also wrote about his failed attempts to climb the summit of San Pedro due to an impenetrable forest.

Types of trees that exist on the island include the Luma apiculata, the Ciprés de las Guaitecas (Pilgerodendron), the Drimys winteri (winter's bark or canelo - Mapuche sacred tree), the Nothofagus dombeyi (Dombey's beech, coigue, coihue, or coigüe [from koywe in Mapuche language]), and the Fitzroya cupressoides.

There are also numerous types of trees on the island, including apple, cherry, and Chilean rhubarb (Gunnera tinctoria), known as nalca.

Chicha, a local alcoholic beverage, was made from these apples by the original inhabitants through a process known as maja [es].

[4] In 1909, after some investigation by his son August Christensen and his crew, a Norwegian company known in the native language as "Sociedad Ballenera del Pacifico" (Pacific Whaling Company) and a port was established on San Pedro, with catcher boats and a land station known as "A/S Pacific.