They'll have a chance to recover now that the sheep and cows are gone. In the cool, still air, barn swallows darted overhead, flashing their bright orange bellies. As the students stopped to puzzle out plant identifications and jot in their field notebooks, I moved alone down the trail. Mist obscured the ocean, but I could hear the quiet lapping of waves on the beach below. I passed, the soil looked rototilled.
Feral pigs are the scourge of the island, rooting up and disrupting recovery of native vegetation.
Controlling the pigs is TNC's top land-management priority. I hiked for another half mile, past stands of island and Bishop pine, thinking about the debate that would take place at tonight's campfire over the best way to deal with the island's pig problem. Some students will likely argue for an aggressive hunting effort, others for translocation or birth control. Whatever program it decides on, TNC has its work cut out trying to get rid of pigs in such a rugged setting. The squawk of a Santa Cruz Island scrub jay startled me out of my musings.