California Coastal National Monument

The California Coastal National Monument is a protected area by the type of National Monuments, which covers the entire 1350 km long Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. For area includes all islands, rocks, reefs and other formations above the mean water line in the twelve- mile zone off the coast that are not otherwise qualify. The reserve is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Description

Before the State of California are within the coastal waters around 20,000 small and very small islands, rocks and other geological formations that protrude above the water line. The average size is only 3 m². They are year-round habitat for seabirds, marine mammals and adapted to the conditions of plant species. In spring and autumn they are part of the Pacific Flyway bird migration route known as along the coast, move to the millions of birds to their breeding or wintering areas. Not for the Reserve, including the Channel Islands, which are otherwise designated as protected areas, and the coastal portions of other protected areas such as Redwood National Park or Point Reyes National Seashore. A small chain of together only 2-hectare islet south of Cape Mendocino in northern California is reported since 2006 also under the name of Rocks and Islands Wilderness as Wilderness Area, the most severe class of protected natural areas in the United States. This makes it the smallest Wilderness Area in the United States.

Rare and endangered species of the area include the brown pelican, the Guadalupe fur seal, the Steller's sea lions and sea otters to. A systematic survey of invertebrates and flora of the area is only gradually.

Uses

Due to the small size of the islands and the inaccessibility, there is no tourism. On and around some of the islands algae are harvested commercially as food. In addition, in the coastal waters crude oil is promoted.