The plan to save an island in California? Shoot all the deer.

For decades, alien animals have plagued the rare habitat on Catalina. The proposed solution has angered local residents and animal lovers.

WHY WE ARE HERE

We explore how America defines itself one place at a time. On a California island, residents and conservationists are arguing over how to protect the habitat for future generations.

December 2, 2023

Santa Catalina Island is the crown jewel of the Channel Islands, an archipelago off the coast of Southern California that is so biodiverse it is often called “North America’s Galápagos.”

Catalina, as it is commonly known, is a rugged mountain jutting out of the sea and is home to more than 60 plants and creatures not found anywhere else on earth. Plump quails and miniature foxes unique to the island, rush along the dirt roads that wind through scrub-covered hills. Thick cushions of mist roll ashore, covering the leaves of rare plants with dew. Bald eagles swoop far above the glittering Pacific Ocean.

But the habitat suffers as much of the native flora has been destroyed by animals shipped here over the past century for ranching, hunting and movie filming.

For Lauren Dennhardt, the island’s top conservationist, there is only one way to save Catalina for future generations: kill all the deer.

Five of the eight Channel Islands include an outlying island National Park, but Catalina, the closest to Los Angeles, has had a very different existence. For more than 100 years, the island has been a tourist destination, made famous by John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart and legions of other Golden Age Hollywood stars who boarded steamships to Catalina – $2.25 roundtrip – to dancesunbathe and enjoy glass bottom boat rides.

The contours of the island were also seen as prime hunting grounds, and eighteen mule deer were introduced from California’s forests nearly a century ago. Now 2,000 deer mow through the native plants here.

That has eroded soils, depleted the food supply for other animals and, most alarmingly, allowed flammable shrubs and grasses to proliferate, said Dr. Dennhardt, rolling down her window as she drove to catch a handful of tumbleweeds. picking up some brush growing on a Catalina hill. These non-native plants, she said, could create conditions similar to those that fueled the recent catastrophic fire in Maui.

The Catalina Island Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that owns 88 percent of the 75-square-mile island, has concluded that the only way to save native plants and restore the island is to get rid of the deer .

The non-profit organization, for which Dr. Dennhardt, senior director of conservation, first considered relocating. But it would be nearly impossible to reach deer hiding in ravines, and the animals often die from stress when captured. There would be similar challenges with sterilization, and yet it would take 15 years to eliminate the deer, she said.

Enter the snipers. The Conservancy ultimately decided that slaughtering the deer with rifles from helicopters for seven weeks next summer was their best hope. Although the approach sounds extreme, such projects are quite common in the field of conservation and have already been implemented on all other Channel Islands. More than worldwide 1,200 exterminations of invasive horses, cats, moose and other mammals have emerged on islands to strengthen fragile ecosystems.

“You don’t do these projects lightly,” said Dr. Denhardt. “This is a last resort.”

The sanctuary still needs approval from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is reviewing the plan. A spokeswoman, Jordan Traverso, said it was premature to comment on the sniper approach, although the department was “generally supportive of the broader habitat restoration project.”

But outrage has arisen at the prospect of shooting deer from the air. Many of the 3,000 residents of Avalon, a resort community on the edge of the nature reserve, have organized protests and signed petitions. Animal lovers and deer hunters alike have joined the choir.

Tourists streaming from cruise ships onto Avalon’s palm-tree-lined boulevard are now greeted with “Stop the Slaughter” posters adorning the windows of stores selling Hawaiian shirts and sand dollar Christmas ornaments.

Avalon residents, who have long called themselves “islanders,” said they felt deeply connected to the land and their way of life, informed by childhoods spent spearfishing in sparkling blue waters, camping on sandy beaches or admiring deer bouncing around their schoolyard. One resident said her young children believe the docile animals are Santa’s reindeer.

While maneuvering his green pickup atop a ridge on a recent morning, Pastor Lopez, 74, hit the brakes as a deer sprinted across the road before disappearing into a canyon covered in dry chaparral. Mr. Lopez, who was born on the island, recalled his family nicknamed his older sister the “Wandering Deer” because of how often she walked through the island’s interior.

“To me, the deer, rattlesnakes and all living things here are just like me. I feel like we are connected. All the animals, we all spend time here,” Mr. Lopez, who retired as head of Avalon’s public works department, said in a gravelly voice. “No one should have the right to slaughter the deer, to make that decision.”

He said the conservation group should do a better job of pruning the flammable plants instead of blaming deer for their spread. The Conservancy said this approach is not sustainable in the long term.

Some Americans may still associate Catalina with William Wrigley Jr., the long-ago chewing gum magnate and owner of the Chicago Cubs. In 1919, Mr. Wrigley purchased Catalina and built the attractions that initially drew people here, including a baseball field, where his team spring training over a period of 30 years.

The island was also enough to attract young Ronald Reagan as a radio announcer for the Cubs. While in California, he took a screen test that ultimately landed him his first film role in the state where he would become governor and later be sent to the White House.

In 1972, Mr. Wrigley’s heirs founded the nonprofit Catalina Island Conservancy, to which they donated most of the land for preservation.

In a shallow valley surrounded by brown hills, Dr. Dennhardt opens a gate to enter a lush garden, a stark contrast to the parched landscape just beyond the fence. The fence is a conservation project to illustrate what Catalina might look like without deer, said Dr. Denhardt.

Visibly excited, she pinched a silver leaf from a small bush. “That’s a very rare plant,” as she held it to her nose to get a whiff of sage scent, “but it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Previously, the conservancy killed some 8,000 goats (originally brought by Spanish missionaries in the 1820s) and 12,000 pigs (brought for sport hunting a century later). These animals also devoured valuable plants and caused erosion. There are still about 90 non-native bison on the island (taken for a film in 1924) who practice birth control.

The conservation group says it has tried to manage the deer through a hunting program that has killed about 200 deer each year, but that has proven insufficient. The deer have no natural enemies on the island, allowing their population to grow uncontrollably.

While the islanders are fine with the locals hunting deer, many feel the slaughter of them all is out of step with the peaceful Catalina. Avalon is quaint by definition, just a square mile stretching along a bay where boats float, run by locals who grew up together. It is served by one supermarket and is full of golf carts due to a strict restriction on new cars.

While many residents have protested civilly, some of the opposition has turned ugly. Dr. Dennhardt, who lives on the island with her family, said she has received disturbing threats on social media and briefly left the island in October for her safety. A suspicious package sent to the wildlife agency was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

An anonymous “Jane Doe” sent a message to Dr. Dennhardt in an advertisement in the Catalina Islander newspaper: “Your pleasant demeanor is deceptive and a most cunning way to hide your black heart.”

Capt. Matthew King of the Sheriff’s Department said law enforcement officials have been monitoring the protests and reports but have not deemed it necessary to take action so far. Captain King, who is stationed in Avalon at the department’s smallest station, said the deer controversy has captured the community’s attention in a way that would be unlikely on the mainland.

“There’s not much to do here, so the truth is every little thing is a big deal on this island,” he said. “This is part of LA County, but it is the Mayberry of LA County.”

Within the protected enclosure marched Dr. Dennhardt to the Catalina ironwood, a tree that only grows on the island. This type of tree became extinct in the rest of North America about 12,000 years ago.

“What a gift to be able to see and touch something you can’t do on land,” she said, tilting her head up to listen to the birds chirping in the leaves. “What we have about Catalina is this stamp from old California that can easily be brought back.”