An ecological island is not necessarily an island surrounded by water, but is an area of land, isolated by natural or artificial means from the surrounding land, where a natural micro-habitat exists amidst a larger differing ecosystem.
Also, in artificial ecological islands (also known as mainland islands):
- all non-native species (at least predator species) have been eradicated,
- native species are reintroduced and nurtured, and
- the natural or artificial border is maintained to prevent reintroduction of non-native species.
The ultimate goal is to recreate an ecological microcosm of the country as a whole as it was before human arrival. There is usually provision for controlled public access, and scientific study and research.
The definition does not include land within a fence erected to:
- protect farm animals from wild predators
- protect a specific species from specific predators
- exclude farm animals only
- exclude native animals (although some native animals, weka for example, may need to be excluded during a species' recovery phase).
Read more about Ecological Island: Background, Offshore Islands, Fenced Enclosures
Famous quotes containing the words ecological and/or island:
“Could it not be that just at the moment masculinity has brought us to the brink of nuclear destruction or ecological suicide, women are beginning to rise in response to the Mother’s call to save her planet and create instead the next stage of evolution? Can our revolution mean anything else than the reversion of social and economic control to Her representatives among Womankind, and the resumption of Her worship on the face of the Earth? Do we dare demand less?”
—Jane Alpert (b. 1947)
“Know that, on the right hand of the Indies, there is an island called California, very near to the Terrestrial Paradise, which was peopled with black women.... Their arms were all of gold.”
—For the State of California, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)