Nonprofit Targets Island Invaders to Restore World’s Rare Species

For years feral cats outcompeted endangered foxes on San Nicolas Island, off California's coast. (Island Conservation)

ONE HUNDRED fifty miles off the coast of Baja California, jagged Guadalupe Island climbs more than 4,000 feet above the Pacific. Throughout the year elephant seals, Guadalupe fur seals and scores of seabirds call this volcanic island home. They dive for fish in the island’s rich waters and use the secluded shoreline to escape white sharks, recuperate from migration and raise their young. Today, the isolated landmass supports a thriving community of rare plants and animals. But it wasn’t always this way.

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A Student’s View

It’s 4:30am Wednesday, not yet daybreak, at the intersection of Hagar and Coolidge on the UCSC campus. Already a few dozen intrepid protesters have gathered to block access to campus from the main entrance despite the chill of dawn and undoubtedly short-circuited sleep cycles.  Soon word comes from the other entrances: they have been effectively blocked, and the protesters have their first victory before the sun has even appeared on the horizon.

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Protesters Take Hahn Student Services at UCSC

If news aggregates tried tracking down the word of the year for 2011, “Occupy” would be near the front of the pack. Perhaps in that spirit, a group of UC–Santa Cruz protesters decided to occupy a university building on Monday, Nov. 28 at about 5am. The group wants to raise awareness about rising tuition—with the most recent increase of 8 percent approved earlier this month—and a controversial pepper spraying incident at UC Davis.

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‘A Year With Frog and Toad,’ a Creature Feature for All Ages

Toad (Mike Ryan) and Frog (Nick Gabriel) go sledding in SSC's holiday show. Photo by r.r. jones.

When it comes down to it, Frog shouldn’t really even need Toad. The congenial amphibian could just as easily pal around with the mice and birds that hang around the swamps if he wanted. But he doesn’t. He prefers his slower-moving, socially inept foil. This year’s winter Shakespeare Santa Cruz play, A Year With Frog and Toad—the group’s first holiday production in two years—is an all-ages tale of friendship based on the children’s books by Arnold Lobel.

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