flora was affected by the forage grasses that farmers introduced to feed their flocks, and by soil-compaction caused by the sheep's hooves. Reproduction of ground-nesting species such as the meadowlark and horned lark is also thought to have been harmed by grazing. After completion of the lighthouse and associated facilities, the Coast Guard planted two types of iceplant on East Anacapa Islet: red-flowered iceplant (Malephora crocea) and sea fig, also called freeway iceplant (Carpobrotus edulis x aequilaterus). Both species are highly invasive. The National Park Service has initiated a restoration project to eradicate all of the ice plant by 2016, the centennial of the National Park Service Organic Act. Restoration Vegetation on Anacapa began to recover after the removal of sheep about 1938 and rabbits in the 1950s. Black rats were successfully eradicated from Anacapa Island by 2003, under a controversial program that involved an aerial application of the rodenticide brodifacoum. This was the first time a rodenticide had been applied aerially in North America (the technique was pioneered in New Zealand). One complicating factor was the presence of the native deer mouse subspecies (Peromyscus maniculatus anacapae). This was the first time that biologists had attempted to eradicate one rodent species from an entire island where an endemic rodent was present. A tool called Population Viability Analysis, or PVA, is a species-specific method used to assess the probability of a population's extinction in a given number of years. Based on the result of a study, PVA determined that a population of 333 deer mice had a high chance of survival. Approximately 300 deer mice were captured prior to the application of rodenticide and reintroduced after poison levels had dropped, which was about three months. The program cost about $1.8 million. A study after the eradication project showed that nesting attempts by Scripps's murrelets on Anacapa had more than doubled, average hatching success was up from 42 to 80 percent average nest predation was down from 52 to 7 percent. Only four months after the rodenticide applications, Cassin's auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) began nesting on Anacapa. This was significant as there were no previous records of the bird nesting on the island and it is known to be highly susceptible to rat predation. Climate This region experiences warm and dry summers and mild winters with no average monthly temperatures above . Its climate is greatly moderated by the Pacific Ocean. According to