Backcountry

Humans changed Angel Island by cutting trees, bringing animals and plants, digging into the mountain, paving roads, and erecting buildings, yet nature persists there, creating habitat for countless plants and animals. In the middle of the bay, the island remains a natural refuge where coast live oak and chaparral habitats dominate the landscape and support deer, racoons, moles, and voles, while countless birds migrate through and many also live there, including turkey vultures, red-tailed hawks, and brown pelicans. The California state rock, serpentine, creates a unique plant habitat because only specially adapted native plants can grow in its nutrient-poor, heavy-metal soil. Angel Island is the largest natural island in San Francisco Bay, and while many of its deer descend from black-tailed deer imported by the army for hunting, some may have swum across the bay. Squirrels, rabbits, skunks, rattlesnakes, and large predators are absent from the island, and eighty acres of eucalyptus were removed from its south side to restore chaparral habitat.

Tiburon, California · United States