Interview Questions
In the Channel Island National Park group, five members visited Santa Cruz Island and camped overnight. The group went on a five hour hike to explore and captured the scenic beauty of the Channel Islands. Each of the five members brought their own gear, equipment, and cameras to Santa Cruz Island. And it was our way to experience the “Burning Man” chapter of Nowtopia by Chris Carlsson. I interviewed Juan Quezada, a campground coordinator with the National Parks Services at Channel Islands, on the November 8, 2009.
My first question for Mr. Quezada was about the best time to find or locate the island’s small foxes and skunks. He explained to me the best time to find the island’s small foxes was in the campground at nights or mornings. The island’s small foxes like to go to the campground to look for food. During the afternoons, the small foxes rest and are rarely seen. As for the island’s skunks, the best time is to find them is at night along the hiking trails; however, they are rarely seen and hikers mostly smell them rather than see them.
My second question was about the eradication of the feral pigs and transportation of the golden eagle. Mr. Quezada said he was not too sure the whole history, but he explained to the best of his knowledge how the eradication came about. When the first Europeans farmers settled they brought pigs and sheep to the farms. In the later years, large number of pigs escaped and found homes throughout the Santa Cruz Island area. The feral pigs began to destroy the grasslands, including the unique plant life, and Chumash historical sites. In addition to the destruction of the land, the feral pigs attracted the golden eagles to the island. The golden eagles, a non-native species, began to hunt piglets and island’s small foxes. The National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy brought a specialty team to eliminate the feral pig population. Once the pigs were eradicated, the golden eagle began to hunt primarily the island’s small foxes. The golden eagle brought the fox population severely down and close to extinction; the United States Fish and Wildlife put the island small fox in the endangered species list. The National Park Service hired another special team to capture the golden eagles and to transport them to the northeast of California. The foxes were being kept in special care by the National Park Services and later release them to the wild. The island fox population is steadily increasing thanks to the National Park Services.
My third question was about the plant life. He mentioned that cherries trees, which are found throughout the two upper loop of the campground, and are native plant. “Good Morning” plants are found along the river banks going to the campground. The eucalyptus trees found in the campground were brought by the early farmers to be use as fire wood and wind breakers. He would later point out to the group a chert rock that was use by the Chumash as a trading ornament.
According to Mr. Quezada, Chumash literally means “money makers.” The chert rock is found abundantly throughout the island. The Chumash use the rock to trade for beams and supplies that were not found in the island with the mainland tribes. The chert rock was use by the Chumash like we use money today.
