One of the most dramatic and successful recovery efforts for an endangered species can be found in the Channel Islands, just offshore of Southern California. Even though the islands are currently almost unpopulated, they haven’t been spared from the impacts of human actions. A combination of over a century of ranching and of the effects of the pesticide DDT had left many of the unique species on the islands teetering on the brink of extinction. In particular, the Island Fox, the most prominent unique species on the the Channel Islands, had quickly declined to under a hundred less than 10 years ago. Dr. Lotus Vermeer, Santa Cruz Island project director for the Nature Conservancy, discusses the unique recovery program that has restored the health of the Island Fox — and of the health of the overall island ecosystem — in less than a decade.
Touring the Ghost Towns of Cyprus
Yiannakis Rousos offers visitors a tour of the home he still hopes to reclaim—and a glimpse of the true cost of this prolonged conflict.
