Located 1 kilometer offshore from Point Año Nuevo, 74 kilometers south of San Francisco, Año Nuevo Island is comprised of Miocene shale with remnant dune deposits surrounded by rocky islets and intertidal shelves.  Just two hundred years ago this eroding and fast-changing island was connected to the mainland by a low peninsula.  From 1872 until 1948 the island was a coast guard light station.  Today this 25-acre island is part of the 4,000-acre Año Nuevo State Reserve, all of which is owned and operated by California State Parks.

  
The island is an important breeding ground for northern elephant seals (which occur on the adjacent mainland in even greater numbers), threatened northern sea lions and small numbers of harbor seals and California sea lions.  It is a major haulout area for California sea lions.  Threatened southern sea otters, and great white sharks frequent the near shore waters.  The reserve supports a phenomenal 40-year on-going study of the growing elephant seal population as it has rebounded from near extinction a century ago.  This long term study, begun with natural history, has expanded to investigate complex questions about the incredible diving abilities of elephant seals and the physiology that supports it (depths well in excess of a kilometer and dive times in excess of an hour), their foraging and long-distance migrations (two migrations a year over thousands of kilometers of ocean), and the physiology that allows their extended fasts ashore (1-3 months without food or water).

The island also supports nesting colonies of sea birds, including Brandt’s cormorants, western gulls, pelagic cormorants, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots, Cassin’s auklets, and black oystercatchers.  There are very few places on earth with higher densities of large animals than this tiny island.
Researchers are accommodated in the historic buildings of the former Coast Guard light station.  Due to the highly sensitive habitats and protected marine mammals and seabirds on the island, reserve use is restricted to scientific research.  Researchers should contact the manager before submitting an application.