After two previous clutches failed to hatch, a pair of bald eagle chicks have appeared in a nest in Sauces Canyon on Santa Cruz Island at Channel Islands National Park off the California coast.

Imagine a place in Southern California without freeways, a place without strip malls, smog, or freeway-clogging traffic. Then, imagine a necklace of grassy islands where eagles soar and foxes run, where abandoned olive groves and ripening figs attract ravens. Imagine crystal-blue ocean waters, where the golden Garibaldi swims through swaying kelp forests beneath wave-battered sea caves, undisturbed by cargo ships and oil platforms.

Long-running efforts to improve public access to Channel Islands National Park, restore native species, and remove non-native species have not only improved the park off the California coast, but led to the superintendent and chief of natural resources management being honored for their work in those efforts.

Imagine a place in Southern California without freeways; a place without strip malls, smog, and millions of people. Imagine an ocean where the golden fish, the Garibaldi, is prolific with hundreds of other species in an underwater forest of kelp beneath wave-battered sea caves. Imagine a place that is still California as it once was, a century ago, with adobe ranch houses, sweeping vistas of cliffs and beach, mountains and valleys, grasslands and cypress groves, and unbelievable quiet.