Blumine Island Trip 6 th to 11 th of December, 2009 By Luis, Rosa, Zane and Marieke A Sustainable Program

Introduction to Blumine Blumine Island is situated in the Marlborough Sounds. It has a big history, dating back to New Zealand's exploration By Captain Cook. When Cook first arrived in the area the island was a pest free area with a wide biodiversity. Over time, rats, stoats, weasels and mice were introduced to the island which had disastrous effects on the native populations of bird species. Recently, Untouched World have sponsored groups of students from the South Island and with the help of The Department of Conservation have worked together and successfully removed all pests from the island.

Goals To maintain the pest free status of the island Maintain the conditions so that more native wildlife can be introduced. Maintaining transport infrastructure Restoring and maintaining historical sites Record species status data, e.g. birds, weta, snails – counting and GPS Locate natural resources, e.g. water sources and report on their conditions

What we’ve Achieved Cleared tracks Replaced tracking boxes Marked routes around the island Updated island coordinates to the new New Zealand grid Located water sources, measured amount of water coming down, GPS coordinates, looked at how accessible they were and suitability for new introduced species, identifying the sustainable habitats Native carnivorous snail plotting Bird counts – listening to calls Weta boxes – updated GPS coordinates, counted males and females Cleared historical site – old gun emplacement

Strengths and Weaknesses of the program as a way of exploring sustainable ideas Strengths: Helps students learn more about sustaining areas with a hands on approach. Provides a student learning approach so that they can share and develop ideas with their communities. Improves and maintains the conditions on Blumine therefore allowing the biodiversity to increase. Helps DoC in their efforts to protect the native wildlife in the Marlborough Sounds. Weaknesses: Resources and time to effect change are limited, e.g. clearing all tracks requires a large amount of time and better equipment. More time is needed to monitor wildlife populations over the whole island. More people are required to cover the area effectively for carrying out processes. Lack of continuity of visits to the island to maintain the conditions on Blumine effectively

It made us aware of what is needed to be done such as monitoring wildlife, preserving historical sites and restoring transport infrastructure. Showed us the impact we can have on the environment around us and how to limit them by checking equipment for foreign seeds and contaminants to protect the island’s species. Given us more ways on teaching future generations on how to implement sustainability ideas such as introducing species into new areas. It has given us a new respect for the people who support what we came here to achieve, e.g. DoC, Untouched World and our schools. We have learnt how to live our lives in a sustainable way, e.g. by taking only memories and leaving only footprints. How has it influenced us?

How can the program be made more sustainable and how can I contribute to this? More visits by students can be made to the island so that it can be taken care of more frequently. We can contribute to this by spreading information and sharing ideas in our community through talking to our schools to promote sustainability. Introduce limited guided tours to raise money to help the program and also to raise awareness about the environment of Blumine.