How can you be involved?

LHI CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERS – MAY to SEPTEMBER 2019

 

How to join LHI Conservation Volunteers 2019 Program:

1. Check out information on https://www.lordhoweisland.info/sustainability/conservation/

2. Choose your preferred month/ feature week/ theme
May – Birds
(Feature Week – Birds of LHI 19th – 26th May)
June – Marine
(Feature Week – Critters of the Sea 3rd-9th June)
July – Invasive Species
(Feature Week – Plants of LHI 21st-28th July)
August – Invertebrates
(Feature Week – Beetle Week 11th – 19th August)
September – Protecting Paradise
(Feature Week – Endemic Week 1st – 8th September)

LHI Conservation Volunteers – Background

Who are LHI Conservation Volunteers

LHI Conservation Volunteers (CVLHI) believe in protecting Lord Howe Island’s unique biodiversity while showcasing world class conservation in action. We are dedicated to empowering like-minded people to make a difference through robust citizen science, inspiring educational experiences, and tangible local conservation action.

The CVLHI program is jointly delivered by the Lord Howe Island Board, Lord Howe Island Museum and LHI Marine Park (Department Primary Industries), in partnership with local businesses.

 

What do the CVLHI do?

Inspire like-minded people

 We connect people and facilitate networking by organising group activities and providing access to world class scientists and conservation specialists who can deliver engaging educational experiences.

Engage and connect citizen scientists with unique island natural history, including marine and terrestrial flora and fauna.

We create new opportunities to engage in citizen science on one of the world’s most unique and celebrated islands. Lord Howe Island’s outstanding universal value is formally recognised in its World Heritage listing, which acknowledges the island’s spectacular landscapes and rich and unique biodiversity. Lord Howe Island and the surrounding LHI Marine Park, are home to many threatened and endemic species found nowhere else in the world. CVLHI create an opportunity to witness these species and assist with efforts to safeguard them.

Empower local conservation action for the island

 Lord Howe Island’s community is deeply connected to the environment and many of the successful conservation projects that have been carried out over the last century have been pioneered by the community.

Through CVLHI we create ongoing opportunities for both visitors and members of the community to be agents for measurable and positive change in protecting the island’s terrestrial and marine ecosystems and unique values.

Promote the significance of Lord Howe’s unique natural and cultural heritage

Lord Howe Island’s renowned pristine natural environment is maintained through world-class conservation efforts that have recently been recognised with five prestigious environmental awards in 2018. We were awarded the 30^th Anniversary Banksia Gold Award for excellence in sustainability, recognising the island’s holistic approach over more than a century. The Lord Howe Island Board also won the Banksia Government Award, two Green Globe’s—the Regional Sustainability Award and the Natural Environment Award, and the SERA (Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia) award, acknowledging Lord Howe Island as a flagship for sustainability providing a model that can be shared by others.

These programs include the development of the tourist bed cap of 400 people at any one time, community driven recycling and waste reduction programs, and a world class waste management facility that diverts 86% of the islands waste from land fill.

From a conservation and rehabilitation perspective the island has delivered many successful programs over several decades: the eradication of feral pigs, cats and goats; a world renowned Weed Eradication Program, which is in its 14^th year; volunteer programs including LHI Conservation Volunteers 2018; and recovery programs have brought species back from the brink of extinction including the Lord Howe Island Phasmid and Woodhen.

We are now on the cusp of one of the most significant conservation projects in the world in 2019 – the Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project. The eradication of rodents from Lord Howe Island will have significant ecological impacts, with our conservation volunteers establishing important baseline monitoring data for this incredible conservation effort.

 

Lord Howe Island Marine Park

The Lord Howe Island Marine Park is internationally significant, containing the world’s southernmost coral reef and the only fringing coral reef lagoon in NSW.

To complement the island’s World Heritage status, the NSW Government gazetted the Lord Howe Island Marine Park in February 1999. The Lord Howe Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters) was proclaimed in June 2000.

The Lord Howe Island Marine Park contains a rich diversity of marine life, supported by a wide range of habitats including coral reef and associated sheltered lagoon, fringing reefs, sandy beaches, inter-tidal and sub-tidal rocky reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, shelf habitats, deep seamount slopes and open waters, all of which support distinct groups of plants and animals.

The marine environment of Lord Howe Island supports several thousands of species, many of which are endemic to the region and new species are still being discovered. Of the species that have been recorded in the park, three are listed as endangered and 27 species are listed as vulnerable under NSW or Commonwealth threatened species legislation.

The main purpose of the Lord Howe Island Marine Park is to protect the biological diversity of this unique aquatic environment.  Management rules are in place to protect the marine biodiversity while supporting a wide range of social, cultural and economic values and uses.

Each day at the Lord Howe Museum there will be special interpretation displays to learn about these projects.

Please contact the Visitors Centre for Island Activities www.lordhoweisland.info/things-to-do

We thank you for your interest in volunteering and look forward to your contribution to our legacy of conservation.