The first of eight barges carrying debris removed from Santa Cruz Island arrived at Ventura Harbor on Thursday, marking the successful completion of a project to clean up the largest of California's Channel Islands.

The cleanup, which cost $200,000, was funded by the California Integrated Waste Management Board and carried out in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and National Park Service.

Lotus Vermeer, director of the Santa Cruz Island Preserve, said the operation was "tremendously beneficial."

Vermeer said the organization has a very ambitious restoration goal in terms of preserving the island's biodiversity and endangered species.

"We don't have funding available for us to do these cleanups of trash we inherited from decades of ranching operations out there so we're enormously grateful to the board," Vermeer said.

Actress and conservationist Daryl Hannah joined representatives of the three groups Thursday morning to publicize the cleanup and how it will help the ongoing preservation of the island's environment.

"It's one of the most incredible wildlife habitats that you'll ever see," said Hannah, who documented the reintroduction of island foxes to Santa Cruz for a video posted on her Web site dhlovelife.com.

"It's a really rare and special ecosystem and we've done so much damage to the planet that I think it's important to recognize the value of those ecosystems which really sustain our biodiversity and all life on the planet."

Santa Cruz Island supports 60 species found only in the Channel Islands. Twelve of those species — four animals and eight plants — exist only on Santa Cruz and nowhere else on the planet.

The Waste Management Board agreed to fund the cleanup operation after the governor's environmental appointee to the board, Gary Petersen, visited the island last year on a retreat and saw the piles of debris.

"They had stuff like old tractors and trucks and irrigation pipes and tanks and just about anything you could think of," Petersen said.

The cleanup, which took five weeks to complete, removed 110 tons of debris from the island. All the wood, concrete and metal recovered during the operation will be recycled.

An additional challenge facing the Waste Management Board was to make sure the people and equipment taken to the island for the cleanup didn't bring along things that could damage the natural habitat and introduce new problems.

"Everything had to be pre-cleaned to make sure there were no rats on the equipment or in the containers, or dirt that could carry seeds," said Russell Galipeau, superintendent of Channel Islands National Park.

"The Channel Islands are teaching people you really can restore ecosystems. It's a sign of hope and shows if you want to change the world, you can do it," he said.

In a written statement issued Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he applauded the way the three agencies had worked together in the operation, calling it "another victory" in the effort to preserve California's natural habitat for future generations.