Threatened species on the world heritage-listed Lord Howe Island are making a significant comeback. Five years after a multi-million-dollar New South Wales government rodent eradication project, rare ecosystems on the pristine island are thriving.
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00:00The mountain summits at the southern end of Lord Howe Island are often veiled in mist,
00:09home to a rare island cloud forest supporting about 85 per cent of the island's endemic
00:15plant species.
00:17Some plants over millions of years have evolved just to live on that summit.
00:21But the island's biodiversity has been under threat from rats and mice.
00:26In 2019, more than 350,000 rodents were eradicated.
00:32The bounce back since then of more than 30 threatened plant and animal species has been
00:38remarkable.
00:39We're just now, five years later, seeing the beginning of a renaissance of this island.
00:45The ground-dwelling Lord Howe Island wood hen, once on the brink of extinction, is now
00:50a common sight.
00:52Wood hen numbers, they have gone from about 200 wood hens five years ago to over 2,000
00:59wood hens now.
01:00Fifth generation islander Jack Schick has scaled to the tallest summit, Mount Gower,
01:06more than 2,000 times, amazed by the transformation of the forest.
01:12Plants that are coming up, so the rats would have eaten all those seeds.
01:16The amount of birds that are coming back too, silver eyes, like the smaller birds in particular,
01:21silver eyes, golden whistlers, black-winged petrels, some of the seabirds, just unbelievable.
01:27Blow me out of the water, I can't believe it.
01:29Here at the towering summit of Mount Gower, the cloud forest ecosystem is regarded as
01:35one of the most rare and fragile in the world.
01:38Scientists say Lord Howe Island is a barometer for climate change and the ability of species
01:45to adapt.
01:46As the world is warming up, often those clouds are disappearing.
01:51Places like the cloud forests are getting much drier and they basically go into drought
01:55and can't exist anymore.
01:57Researchers are tracking temperature and vegetation changes in the cloud forest.
02:03At sea level, the recovery of the world's most southerly coral reef is also being monitored
02:09after a coral bleaching event in late summer.
02:12Keeping pests out remains a priority.
02:15Sniffer dogs check all arrivals and do regular island checks for rodents.
02:21Such a unique and special place, I think to preserve that we have to work hard to protect it.
02:29Efforts at all levels to preserve a paradise reclaimed.