A bill that would restore the original 2011 deadline for halting a private commercial deer and elk hunting operation on Santa Rosa Island, a national park, was introduced Thursday in Congress by Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.

A bill that would restore the original 2011 deadline for halting a private commercial deer and elk hunting operation on Santa Rosa Island, a national park, was introduced Thursday in Congress by Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.

The bill would repeal language that was included last fall in a military spending bill passed by Congress, allowing hunting to continue indefinitely on Santa Rosa. The island, one of five in the Channel Islands National Park, is virtually closed to the public for more than five months of the year during the hunting season.

In a statement to the press on Thursday, Capps said public access to Santa Rosa should not be restricted in order for a lucrative trophy hunting operation to continue indefinitely on national park land.

“I have every confidence that this matter will be corrected,” Capps said.

U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Barbara Boxer (D-California) introduced similar legislation today in the Senate.

“This bill would correct a terrible mistake that should hever have been made,” Boxer said. “Santa Rosa Island is a natural gem and all Californians and Americans should be able to enjoy it.”

In 1998, in a court settlement with environmentalist groups, the National Park Service shut down a private cattle operation on Santa Rosa and imposed a phaseout of the deer and elk hunting operation by 2011. Environmentalists contended that the grazing animals, none of them native to the island, were a threat to the survival of eight endangered species of plants there.

"We're eager to make Santa Rosa available for year-round public enjoyment," Yvonne Menard, a park spokeswoman, said.

Last fall, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, introduced language lifting the hunting deadline as then-chair of the House Armed Services Committee, saying it would improve access to Santa Rosa for disabled veterans and other members of the armed forces.

Santa Rosa was purchased for $30 million by Congress in 1986 from the Vail and Vickers families, who still own the hunting operation. About 5,000 people visit the island yearly. It is prized for its rare plants, rare island oak, and island foxes, a cat-sized species on the brink of extinction.

The world’s most complete skeleton of a pygmy mammoth was excavated on Santa Rosa, as well as the oldest human remains found in North America — a man who lived 13,000 years ago.