Channel Islands National Park’s Santa Rosa Island reopens to visitors

Santa Rosa Island reopens to visitors Wednesday after a drug smuggling investigation shuttered the national parkland for almost a week.

The closure began Oct. 26 after authorities found 3,000 pounds of marijuana on the island that’s part of Channel Islands National Park. Agencies investigated the incident but no arrests were made in what’s believed to be a drug smuggling incident, according to a national park announcement Tuesday.

Now two of Channel Island National Park’s five islands are temporarily closed to visitors »

Prior to the closure, Santa Rosa offered up an ancient wonder in September: the skull of an extinct species of elephant that may have thrived on the island 13,000 years ago. It’s believed to be the bones of a pygmy mammoth and will be examined at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

With Santa Rosa back in play, visitors may visit four of the national park’s five islands. Santa Barbara Island has been closed since heavy surf last January destroyed its landing pier.

Other islands in the national park include Anacapa, Santa Cruz and San Miguel.

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