The Green Guardians program has been running for more than a full tourism season and is now able to show some of the great conservation achievements it has been able to yield as a result. Run in conjunction with Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife and Tourism Tasmania, Green Guardians has been operating through a number of Tasmania’s prominent tourism ventures; including Bay of Fires Walks, Cradle Huts Walks, Water by Nature and Tasmanian Wilderness Experience. The Green Guardians program is a conservation voluntourism (volunteer tourism) venture with the aim of protecting Tasmania’s pristine environment, for which it has become a popular tourism destination as a result.
Some of the Green Guardians commercial operators, who following a full tourism season have maintained documentation of their conservation efforts, are now able to display their efforts proudly;
Water by Nature has been conducting fauna surveys on its Franklin River Rafting trips, which has resulted in greater understanding of the types of fauna seen, heard and tracked in this area. Of particular mention is the presence and abundance of the Wedge Tailed Eagle, White Bellied Sea Eagle and Quoll, all of which are on the Tasmanian threatened species list.
Tasmanian Wilderness Experience has been conducting litter collection and surveys in Freycinet National Park with the overwhelming collection of tissues being the most commonly found litter type. Following tissues as the next most common litter type in the area is the presence of confectionary wrappers, material such as clothing and a number of other human introduces litters.
Bay of Fires Walks has been involved with marine debris collection and identification, in conjunction with Tangora Blue who has stated that our data collected will be put into the “Australian Marine Debris Database which will be used to identify what and how much marine debris is impacting our coastline, and then used to find practical solutions to stop those items identified from ending up in the ocean in the first place”! Some of the great results coming out of this project include the massive removal of such items as aluminium cans, fishing line and marine rope, as well as the documentation of identifiable items such as tagging equipment and cylume chemical sticks (glow sticks).
Cradle Huts Walks has been conducting a litter collection and survey project along some of Tasmania’s most famous walking tracks. Due to the popularity of these walking tracks with locals and visitors alike, there is the issue of increased litter in the area. Thankfully the presence of litter and its subsequent collection has been minimal and will continue to reduce with the hard work of Green Guardians participants and fellow walkers alike. Confectionary wrappers, and other assortments of unidentifiable paper, metal and plastic based litter have been the most common litter found along this track.
All of the great results having been achieved by each of these Green Guardians tours highlight the positive difference each individual can make to the protection of our local environment. Finally, we have received a number of positive responses regarding participation in the Green Guardians program, and hope to learn more about what works and what needs adjusting in the program after conducting an online survey shortly. We will keep you posted!
