The Marin Islands are two small

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s, named East Marin and West Marin, in San Rafael Bay, an embayment of

San Pablo Bay San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water c ...

in Marin County,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Geography

The Marin Islands are located offshore from the city of San Rafael, in the northern

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. The islands comprise the Marin Islands National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1992. The surrounding submerged tidelands are also included in the refuge. The islands are the property of the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

and require special permission to visit.

History

The islands are named after the

Coast Miwok Coast Miwok are an indigenous people that was the second-largest group of Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Poi ...

man known as

Chief Marin Chief Marin (c. 1781 – March 15, 1839) was the "great chief of the tribe ''Licatiut''" (a branch of Coast Miwok native to present-day Marin County, California), according to Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, General Vallejo's semi-historical report to ...

, after whom Marin County was later named. He is thought to have hidden out there in the 1820s after escaping from

Mission San Rafael Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

, before being recaptured and incarcerated at the Mexican San Francisco Presidio.Goerke, Betty. 2007. ''Chief Marin, Leader, Rebel, and Legend: A History of Marin County's Namesake and his People''. Berkeley: Heyday Books. The islands were donated to the federal government by the Crowley family of San Francisco. They had been bought by Thomas Crowley at auction in 1926 for $25,000 in the hope that they would become the western terminus of the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge. Instead, they became a family vacation spot for more than sixty years.

Ecology

West Marin Island, elevation above the bay waters, supports the largest heron and

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

rookery A rookery is a colony of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds. Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-forming seabirds, marine mammals ( true seals and sea lions), and ...

in the

. Nesting

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

include

great egret The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...

s, snowy egrets, great blue herons, and black-crowned night herons. East Marin Island, a former vacation retreat, now supports a variety of introduced and

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

plants and provides critical nesting material and rest sites for the nearby colony. The submerged tidelands support a variety of resident and migratory

water bird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s such as

surf scoter The surf scoter (''Melanitta perspicillata'') is a large sea duck native to North America. Adult males are almost entirely black with characteristic white patches on the forehead and the nape and adult females are slightly smaller and browner. Su ...

, black oystercatcher,

diving duck The diving ducks, commonly called pochards or scaups, are a category of duck which feed by diving beneath the surface of the water. They are part of Anatidae, the diverse and very large family that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The diving d ...

s, and

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

. Refuge objectives are to protect migratory species, including the heron and egret nesting colony, protect and restore suitable

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

for the colony, and protect the tidal mud flats and unique island

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

References

* *
Refuge profileRefuge website
{{authority control Islands of Marin County, California Islands of San Francisco Bay Islands of Northern California San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuges in California California placenames of Native American origin Protected areas of Marin County, California Protected areas established in 1992 1992 establishments in California Uninhabited islands of California

Geography

History

Ecology

See also

References