Santa Barbara Island

[citation needed] While the island is not a volcano, it is composed primarily of Miocene volcanic rocks (basalt) interbedded with marine sediments.

It exhibits at least six marine terraces; evidence of repeated tectonic uplift and subsidence (so called porpoising).

Native American peoples, probably the Chumash and Tongva, occupied Santa Barbara Island periodically for millennia.

From 1916 onwards, the island was occupied by the Hyder brothers, Alvin, Clarence and Cleve, with their families.

The only other individuals to lease the island, before it became part of the national monument in 1938, were by Arthur McLelland and Harry Cupit from 1929 to 1932.

[7] In 1852, Charles Melville Scammon, in the brig Mary Helen, hunted northern elephant seals and sea lions on Santa Barbara Island.

[7]: 189–191 Santa Barbara Island is home to a large sea lion rookery and seabird nesting colonies.

Scripps's murrelet is listed as vulnerable because so much of its breeding takes place on such a small and isolated island.