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.

On a day set aside to celebrate the Earth and the environmental movement, the Interior Department and National Park Service gave us dollars and cents.

Damage from Hurricane Marie has forced the temporarily closure of Santa Barbara Island at Channel Islands National Park off the California coast.

The island fox, once thought to be ready to vanish from Channel Islands National Park, has made a stunning recovery and now counts more than 2,500 individuals. Park officials say the fox population overall is at or approaching biological recovery following its near-95 percent decline in the 1990s.