Santa Fe Island


Santa Fe Island, also known as Barrington Island, is a small island of which lies in the middle of the Galápagos Archipelago in Ecuador. Visitor access is by a wet landing in Barrington Bay on the northeastern side of the island.

Names

The name Santa Fé is Spanish for "Holy Faith" in reference to Roman Catholic Christianity.
The English name Barrington Island was bestowed in 1794 by James Colnett in honor of Admiral Samuel Barrington, noted for his kindness to the sailors under his commands.

Geography

Santa Fe lies in the middle of the Galápagos Archipelago in Ecuador. It is southeast of Santa Cruz Island.

Environment

, the island is one of the oldest of the archipelago; volcanic rocks of about 4 million years old have been found.
The vegetation of the island is characterized by brush, palo santo trees and stands of a large subvariety of the Galápagos prickly pear cactus, Opuntia galapageia subvar. barringtonensis.
Santa Fe is home to two endemic species and two endemic subspecies: the Barrington land iguana, the Barrington leaf-toed gecko, the Santa Fe marine iguana and the Santa Fe rice rat. Large numbers of sea lions are found on the beaches of Barrington Bay, occasionally hindering access to the two trails leading from the beach.
The island used to have its own, so far undescribed, species of Galápagos tortoise, the endemic Santa Fe tortoise, which became extinct in the mid 19th century because of overexploitation by whalers and settlers. For over 150 years the island had no tortoises. Genetic examination of tortoise bones found on the island showed that its closest relative was the Hood Island giant tortoise from Española Island. Following a decision made at an international workshop on giant tortoises in 2012, a program was initiated to reestablish a tortoise population on Santa Fe, using the Española Island species as an ecological analogue, or substitute. The tortoises are ecologically important for the island ecosystem, especially for their role as seed dispersers. Between 2015 and 2021 the Santa Fe Tortoise Project successfully introduced some 700 juvenile and 31 subadult Española tortoises to Santa Fe to complete the ecological restoration program for the island. A Global Environment Facility project on Galápagos biosecurity and ecosystem restoration with Conservation International Ecuador as the project agency includes the translocation of giant tortoises to the island.