"Earth Day every day and our daily sweat" April 2017
by Virginie Ternisien
The calendar reminded me that Saturday April 22nd was Earth Day! That day was a worldwide day of demonstration and remembrance that our planet needs care. On September 2014, I happened to be in Melbourne, Australia, for the Climate March. A sign always haunts me from that event: it featured an Earth globe in a poor shape, with that simple and yet powerful message: “You would not treat your Mother like that!”. Right on! It is very human to be distracted by stuff and loose this grounded connection to Earth, our only home. What did you do? Did you plant a tree, start a garden, reduce your waste, buy local, eat less meat, ride a bike instead of driving your car? Earth-friendly actions are endless. It can only be successful if it starts with yourself.
Living on Kure is the apprenticeship to become minimalist and self-sufficient. A very low carbon footprint is crucial in a wildlife sanctuary to ensure that our activities do not compromise the ecosystem. Also, on a daily basis we see the negative effects of human impacts on the ecosystem. This comes from a 30+ year period of human installation as Kure was a Coast Guard Station, to living thousands of miles away from a city, and from climate change. Everything is dynamic on Earth, nothing is static. To name just a few: the atoll has a shocking constant accumulation of marine debris, the introduction of numerous alien species (plants and animals) in Kure pairs with human arrival, sea level rise is very concerning to an island with a mean elevation of 2.8 (SD 2.0) and animals come further away from their primary habitat because of scarce food resources. We can do so much damage to the environment in a short amount of time. But, we can also turn things around for the greater good. Earth day is EVERY DAY on Kure by ethic and it is a profound source of personal inspiration and optimism. This post is dedicated to give you some hints about our weekly schedule and observations on Kure.
We closed up our fifth week on the Green Island, time flies! Now, we got a pretty solid routine. Activities depend on the weather, wildlife events and if returning in Camp from the field late in the afternoon. We celebrated JE’s birthday with words of gratitude. We burnt invasive plant seeds collected during field activities and paper trash while looking at a sky full of stars. This happened only a few times a season as needed, weather and wildlife permitting.
Thirty-two restoration areas (RA) were successfully treated to eliminate and control invasive plants. It includes the RAs left from the Winter Season 2016 (mission accomplie!!!) and others from our Summer Season 2017. Each season, the crew completes the treatment of the entire island (188 acres) at least twice, ideally 3-4 times, during the six month period. The RAs were overall pretty weedy. It included “fields” of Lobularia maritima, our infamous trio of grasses - Eleusine indica, Cenchrus echinatus and Sporobolus pyramidatus, and the fragrant Coronopus didymus, among others. We hand pulled our very first tall Verbesina encelioides (VERENC), a daisy-like plant , the tallest were approx. 6 feet high. Few had viable and drop seeds (dang!). We also “sushi-rolled” our first Cassytha filliformis (CASFIL) infested plants. CASFIL is a parasitic vine that reminds me the Adams Family hand. It has specialized roots that reach far and penetrate host tissues, often native plants, to absorb nutrients. It uses its dying prey as a trampoline to attach to other close species. It can even feed on other CASFIL…To me, that is the most creepiest invasive plant on Kure but truly an amazing force of nature. All outbreaks of invasive plants and drop seeds were marked with a GPS waypoint and specific colored flagging. Currently, the island counts 15 native plants and 33 nonnative. While VERENC is the main target plant to eradicate from the island, the other invasive species are controlled concurrently to provide more land for the native seed banks, as mentioned in the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) 10 year program management plan. The ultimate goals are to restore seabird habitat and promote dune stabilization. While working close by beach sectors, we removed hundreds of pounds of marine entanglement debris collected and secured by the Winter crew at specific locations.
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