Proposed Management and Assessment of the Feral Donkey (Equus Asinus) on San Miguel Island, California

Anonymous

San Miguel Island, California, is a 14,000 acre island administered oy the United States Navy, and, since October 20, 1976, managed on a day-to-day basis by the National Park Service at Channel Islands National Monument. Sheep were totally eradicated from the island by 1969 in a joint effort by the United States Navy and the National Park Service, and for the most part vegetation has made a remarkable comeback and many of the dunes ar~ once again stable •. At that time there were a few feral burros on San Miguel, but these were not eradicated. Now, however, estimates in the number of donkeys average around 30 or 40 animals, and signs of their influence on the island vegetation and on the rate of erosional recovery are becoming much more easily noticed. Now that we have taken over management of San Miguel Island from the Navy and since we will be managing it as a natural area in the National Park System, ourbasic goal should be to remove a~ exotics from and reintroduce a~ extirpated natives to the island ecosystems. For these reasons, we are forced to take a more critical look at the role of the feral donkey on San Miguel Island.