Diving into environmental guardianship on a virtual field trip

Betty and Tiki collect cockles

Picture this: The school week begins with a helicopter ride over Fiordland, before boarding a converted 27-metre expedition naval ship that takes students around the remote fiords.

Later, the class will explore the pristine islands of Tamatea Dusky Sound, searching for evidence they are predator-free, checking tracking tunnels, and picking up trap data. As they head into the weekend, students have a new knowledge of restoring ecosystems in their own backyards.

It’s the trip of a lifetime.

Fiordland, a World Heritage Site, is spread over one million hectares and made up of 14 fiords. Tamatea Dusky Sound alone has 700 islands.

Now, ākonga across the motu can travel to the ends of the earth, experiencing Tamatea, a place largely untouched by human footprints – enjoyed all from the comfort of their classroom.

It’s an opportunity that has come about through Tātai Aho Rau CORE Education, the Ministry of Education, and the Department of Conservation (DOC), who have created two virtual field trip resources in conjunction with Pure Salt, a multi-day charter vessel company in Fiordland.

The resources were created from live expeditions into Fiordland, and the content then placed on the online platform LEARNZ, making the field trip virtual and accessible for anyone.

The expedition into Tamatea Dusky Sound was used to create content for the virtual field trip.

Tamatea vision

Maria Kuster and her partner Seán founded Pure Salt eight years ago. Behind everything they do is the ‘Tamatea vision’, a dream they share with DOC to help turn Tamatea Dusky Sound into one of Earth’s most intact ecosystems – a ‘biobank’ where native species can be sourced and sent to pest-free locations around the country.

“We started the business to connect people with place and give back to the place we call home. Everything else flows from there.”

In 2018, the Pure Salt team started to work on restoring Mamaku Indian Island. They began thinking about how nothing they do matters if the next generation isn’t passionate about it.

“We started asking ourselves, ‘how can we connect more kids to Fiordland and ecosystem restoration? What conduits are there?’” says Maria.

After a conversation with a local DOC officer, they heard of LEARNZ – a programme of free virtual field trips which first began with trips across Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys in 1995. The platform suited Pure Salt’s idea perfectly.

Maria and Seán organised an expedition into Tamatea Dusky Sound to create resources for the virtual experience. Joining them on the expedition were three children and their guardians, chosen in a nationwide competition for their best expression of what kaitiakitanga (guardianship) means to them.

It’s through the eyes of these tamariki that ākonga across Aotearoa can experience Tamatea Dusky Sound.

Students jumped into the freezing water to dive for crayfish.

Saying yes to opportunities

Tiki, an ākonga from Massey High School, had never visited Fiordland before joining the trip.

“I wasn’t too interested in the trip until I looked into it and saw the amazing boat, Flightless. It’s three storeys with a spa pool on top,” says Tiki.

The trip changed his life, inspiring him to always say yes to opportunities.

He ate raw mussels, climbed mountains, and jumped into freezing water in a 7mm wetsuit to dive for crayfish only a few metres underwater.

After the trip, he says his perspective on how we care for our environment changed significantly.

“Our chef on board Flightless expertly used every part of a blue cod I caught. Fried the skin, smoked the roe, battered the fillets, smoked the frames and heads. We ate all of it. I’ve brought that home with me – now, as little food as possible goes to waste, using bones in stocks and such, composting waste to put back into the garden to grow our own produce,” says Tiki.

He has been sharing all he learned with his friends and wider community.

“Seeing what a difference they’ve made down there ... we can do that, we just need to work together; we are one people on one rock. We need to look after this place we call home the best we can, by following the message of kaitiakitanga.”

Learning from the experts

Helping to curate the content were on-board experts, including Predator Free New Zealand Trust chief executive Jessi Morgan and the DOC’s Te Anau community ranger Jo Marsh.

On the field trip, Jessi and Pure Salt’s conservation hero Rusty took the students trapping in the forest, teaching them different ways of controlling introduced predators.

“It was awesome seeing how engaged the students were with the material. We’re removing stoats from this environment so our native species can thrive, and it was cool to see the students make that correlation.”

Jessi says students joining the field trip can take their learnings from Fiordland and translate them back into environments near them – their backyard or local reserve.

“The area is such a special part of New Zealand. It’s awesome showing students what thriving native forests and oceans could look like in their home towns if we didn’t have introduced predators.”

Jo says Tamatea is a great place to learn about conservation.

“It is one of the first places where European explorers set foot in NZ. The landscape still looks the same, but introduced animals have had a big impact on the forests and animals that live there, even way out in the wilds of Tamatea.”

On the trip, she guided the group over predator-free Pukenui Anchor Island.

“Best of all, the kids just got it – why this island is so important in Aotearoa’s conservation story. Being predator-free means that Pukenui acts as a biobank, a place for endangered species such as kākāpō and kiwi to flourish in relative safety, away from introduced animals such as stoats, cats and rats.”

“The more biobanks we can have, the more taonga we can hopefully save and return to the mainland one day if future kaitiaki can create the methods to make more of Aotearoa pest-free.”

Tiki says the knowledge he learned on board the boat was “staggering”.

“I learnt more than I can remember just being around these amazing people.”

Tiki says his perspective on how we care for our environment changed significantly after the trip.

Accessible conservation

The LEARNZ resource is free and open to anyone.

“Providing an opportunity to learn about these special areas on a platform such as LEARNZ is the first step in supporting young people to play a part in protecting them,” says LEARNZ kaiārahi Andrew Penny.

“A key part of virtual field trips is about helping ākonga access the inaccessible and inspiring them to take conservation action in places close to them.”

Tiki says before the trip he had no idea of Fiordland’s “uninterrupted beauty hiding behind every corner”.

“It was truly breathtaking to see the water clarity, how clean the air was, and how much kaimoana lived beneath the waters. LEARNZ gives you a glimpse of this and inspires you to use this as an example of what kaitiakitanga can do to a place,” he says.

“So much work has been put into keeping it a safe haven for native animals and plants down there. Maybe students can see that and be inspired to take their message of kaitiakitanga worldwide.”

Maria says people are never too young to start learning about conservation and our role as kaitiakitanga.

“I think it’s important for students to understand they’re part of the ecosystem, not removed from it, and that they can make things better. We need to look after the places that look after us.”

Tiki says he often hears his generation “are doomed” due to the damage done to our ecosystems.

“But a lot of those who ‘doomed’ us are doing a lot of good to help the environment. Now is the time to get involved with conservation work so we can learn from those who are doing amazing things now and not have to start from scratch in 20 to 30 years.

“We need to be engaging in the work they are doing so we can gain new insight, a new angle on the problems they are facing because only together are we going to make this work.” 

The field trip is set up so that teachers can take students through it day by day – as if they are actually on board a week-long field trip.

What to expect on a virtual field trip

Students have two choices for a virtual field trip to Tamatea Dusky Sound.

The first trip, ‘Expedition Fiordland’, gets students to join a group working hard to turn Tamatea into one of the most intact ecosystems on earth. Almost 100 schools have already joined.

The second trip, ‘Environmental Guardianship in Tamatea Dusky Sound’, was published in March. This trip has students connecting with our seas and embarking on a journey learning about ecosystems above and below the water.

“This second trip was pretty special as it opened up what is beneath the reflection of humans,” Maria says.

“People tend to think about forests and birds when they imagine ecosystem restoration as it’s easily accessible, but opening this up to our oceans and getting kids to understand that biodiversity is also important there.”

The field trips are designed to fit into the New Zealand Curriculum. They are set up so teachers can take students through them day by day – as if they are actually on board a week-long field trip.

The content is geared towards early-to-late teens, but Maria says teachers can easily enrich the content and make it more challenging by adding supplementary resources.

“The visual content is also great for younger students if you want to show them birdlife or go diving with someone,” she says.

On top of the LEARNZ field trips, Pure Salt also collaborated with NZ Geographic, where they captured Fiordland experiences in 3D filming. Teachers can get VR goggles into the classrooms so students can virtually walk through the video content, from kayaking to standing under a waterfall to snorkelling underwater.

Jessi says teachers can choose different angles to explore from the field trip based on their students’ interests.

To find out more about the virtual field trips, visit the LEARNZ website(external link).

The chef on board Flightless used every part of the blue cod Tiki caught, a waste-free practice he has taken home to family and friends. Images: Andrew Penny.