What caught my attention about this small country town of 23,000 people was that they had created a major education centre for that vast area of inland farms between Sydney and Brisbane. And they thus have a thriving economy and a thriving small country township. Not only are there 18 schools in Armidale providing the full range of public, private, Steiner, Catholic, Aboriginal and Presbyterian education, there is a Teacher Training College, a Conservatorium of Music and a University. Although this University has an enrollment of over 20,000 students, only 2,000 are ever present at the same time, the rest are doing distance learning in 50 countries around the world. It really made me realize that a place could create its own economy, choose how they want that to be, and not be left to the whims of ‘the market’.

So if the Barrier took the brave step of pursuing the predator free idea what would the benefits be?

Work and employment would be created with new opportunities for a variety of skilled people. First there is the task of eradicating the pests. This would be a major exercise and require a large team for a considerable period of time. Not just for eradication activities, but beforehand for planning and afterwards for constant monitoring and ‘mop up’. Getting that last rat will become an obsession! Getting that last feral cat will require diligence and determination. Barrier people could be trained to do a lot of this work themselves. Once complete they can move to ongoing monitoring and restoration activities.

Then there are the eco-tourism opportunities that will result from being the largest rat free island in the world. New small businesses will be invented using the existing infrastructure — but using it for the whole year round, spreading the load, not just living through the stresses of the three or four week period that Auckland people want to come here. Visitors could be attracted from other countries that have different holiday periods. Age groups could be targeted whose lives no longer revolve around school holidays.

Our precious rare and threatened species (chevron skink, brown teal ducks, black petrel, kaka, kereru, mistletoe etc) will have a much better chance. If the island is rat and feral cat free, fewer measures will be needed to protect these highly endangered beings. Examples of costs that have been incurred protecting endangered species in other parts of New Zealand are:  

This sort of cost will be minimised if a rat and feral cat free environment is established on the island and domestic pets are well managed. More seeds of all sorts and sizes will be left on the ground to grow into trees enhancing the natural regeneration of forest across the island. The ecology of the island will be free to find its own natural balance.