When Hank and Sue Bower first arrived on Lord Howe Island 14 years ago, the island was overgrown with weeds and feral animals were threatening the survival of some of the island’s unique endemic species.
Fast forward nearly a decade and-a-half, and there has been an ecological renaissance on the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Island of 350 residents, located hundreds of kilometres east of Port Macquarie in the middle of the Tasman Sea.
“Lord Howe delivers in bucket loads in terms of environmental outcomes,” says Hank, manager of the World Heritage area. He oversees various conservation projects including the eradication of rodents and introduced pests on the island, as well as the improvement of biosecurity measures. The rodent eradication program has led to many native species not only surviving, but thriving.
“It’s an environmental flagship in many ways, showing how you can successfully manage and protect an environment with good flora and fauna management and working with the community,” says Sue, who oversees the weed eradication and threatened flora species programs.
The dynamic environmental duo at the heart of Lord Howe’s ecological renaissance met at Southern Cross University, where they both studied applied science in the 1990s, attracted to the University’s location in the last remnant of the Big Scrub rainforest which once covered a large part of Northern NSW.
“We were very fortunate to hook up with some pioneers in rainforest ecology on the north coast like Mark Dunphy,” said Hank. “We were founding members of the Big Scrub Rainforest Landcare Group and did a lot of work on the north coast learning about rainforest ecology and rainforest restoration and we got to transfer those skills here.”
From overseeing weed eradication teams to conducting annual surveys of threatened species like the woodhen or even nurturing species back from the brink of extinction like the fantastically named Phasmid stick insect, those skills have racked up some impressive environmental wins. It’s not a case of sitting back and relaxing now though, says Sue.
“Working with the community has been critical and continues to be critical going forward. Talking to people about which plants aren’t safe for an island and which ones are suitable for example. In terms of the future conservation of the island, we are in good shape now but we shouldn’t wait for things to go backwards before acting. Protecting and managing places like this require long-term thinking and planning,” she said.
This article appeared in The Lord Howe Island Signal, 30 December 2021.
