It’s easy to tell when a child sees one of Chuck Graham’s photographs of island foxes, now on exhibit at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.

“Aww! They’re so cute!” echoes down the second-floor hallway, lined with large images of this wee species found only on the nearby Channel Islands.

Even the museum’s director, Greg Gorga, can’t find a better word to describe them.

“They are cute, and it’s great to see them in so many different settings, like climbing manzanita, playing with a feather or next to a raven,” he said.

“The Swiftest Recovery, Island Fox Chronicles” features 50 photos taken over more than 25 years by Graham, a local freelance writer, photographer, lifeguard and kayak guide. The exhibit is on view, free with museum admission, through Aug. 24.

At 7 p.m. this Thursday, Graham will present a talk at the museum related to his book, “Paddling Into a Natural Balance,” featuring stories of ecological recovery on the Channel Islands, such as island foxes, bald eagles, island scrub-jays, pelicans, peregrine falcons and others. Click here for tickets.

Not that long ago, island foxes faced near extinction because of human-caused disruptions of island ecosystems. However, a collaborative effort by conservation groups and government agencies saved island foxes, and in record time. The species is found exclusively on six of the eight islands in Channel Islands National Park.

Scientists estimate that gray foxes were brought to the islands by humans 6,000 years ago. The Chumash consider the fox sacred, a pet of the sun, and honor them in traditional dances.

Graham said historic island-dwelling Chumash also kept them as pets. It’s easy to see why, given the foxes’ inquisitive nature, adorable antics and expressive faces, all captured in his exuberant photographs.

The foxes evolved to a small size in response to the limited resources on their island homes. Though only the size of a house cat, they are the largest land mammal native to the islands — or they were, until non-native sheep, goats and pigs were brought there during the ranching era, beginning in the 1930s.

The island fox decline plays out like a cascade of dominoes, with near-disastrous results. From the 1940s until 1972, barrels laced with pesticide DDT were dumped near Catalina Island.

Over the decades, DDT entered the marine food web, impacting wildlife. Bald eagles ate contaminated fish, which caused their eggshells to thin and breeding to fail, catapulting them onto the Endangered Species List, and triggering recovery efforts (along with those for brown pelicans and peregrine falcons). Bald eagles, which do not prey on foxes, disappeared from the Channel Islands. Golden eagles, larger and more aggressive, took up residence.

“They came for the feral pigs, but figured out it is easy to prey on foxes, who have no natural predators and have never been preyed upon for thousands of years,” Graham said.

It was at that juncture that Graham entered the picture. More accurately, he began to take pictures.

The museum’s theater holds his images from visits to the Channel Islands, beginning in 1996 with a trip to Santa Cruz Island’s Smuggler’s Cove, and documents the island fox recovery program spearheaded by the National Park Service.

“At that time, scientists didn’t know what was killing the foxes, but their numbers were down,” he said.

His photograph captures the moment in 1997 on San Miguel Island when the National Park Service first put a radio collar on an island fox, in hopes of gathering information about the drastic decline.

Two weeks later, the fox was dead, but the predator left a calling card: a golden eagle feather.

“A light bulb went off,” Graham said. “Biologists knew that bald eagles were an apex, keystone species and that they had to establish new populations.”

That meant trapping and removing the golden eagles, one by one, and reintroducing bald eagles in hopes that they would breed. It also meant the removal of feral pigs, and the captive breeding of island foxes for eventual re-release. The island fox recovery project began in 1999.

Four island fox subspecies were federally listed as endangered in 2004. Three were removed in August 2016, making it the fastest delisting of any mammal under the Endangered Species Act.

Graham walked over to his photograph taken in 2008 of the release of the last captive-bred fox on Santa Rosa Island, marking the end of captive breeding.

The reasons for the quick success? He said it is because of the islands’ isolation and key partnerships.

“Islands offer a great example of how recovery can work; other places don’t have their advantages,” he said. “But partnerships are so important, and the government has to pay attention.”

He names partners, including the National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Institute for Wildlife Studies, the Santa Barbara Zoo (which provided veterinary support and field researchers) and other groups.

Graham’s images of foxes line upstairs hallways, with the largest prints in the corner where the sides meet, along with an excerpt from his book. Detailed captions explain each shot, though many need no explanation: A fox chases a feather, another perches in a tree and feasts on figs, yet another nestles in an agave. An entire section is dedicated to pups.

Graham purposely did not see the exhibit plans or visit during its installation.

“I saw it at the opening with everyone else,” he said. “I had no idea so many people would be there, and it was fun watching people’s reactions, from kids to older folks.”

He began photographing the foxes before and after his job as a kayak guide on overnight trips to Santa Cruz Island.

“They are not afraid if followed from a distance,” he said. “I can then wait to see their behavior and how they interact with their natural environment.”

It’s not like Carrizo Plain, the subject of his first book of wildlife photographs (now in its second printing).

“There, just locating wildlife is a challenge, as they are wary due to predators,” Graham said.

Island foxes no longer have that problem. Pups are not even born in dens, as with other canid species.

“There are no dens. This year’s crop of pups is now about 5 weeks old, and just hanging out where they were born, running from lemonade berry tree to lemonade berry tree,” Graham said. “I feel fortunate and grateful to be able to photograph my passion, and to see this success story.

“A lot of good stuff happens out on the islands.”