Resolution Island is the largest (uninhabited) island in Fiordland

Fiordland

Fiordland is a geographic region of New Zealand that is situated on the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western-most third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes and its ocean-flooded, steep western valleys...

 region of southwest New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, covering a total of 208 km² (80 sq mi). It is the country's seventh largest island. Resolution Island is separated from the mainland of the South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

 by Dusky Sound

Dusky Sound

Dusky Sound is a fiord on the south west corner of New Zealand, in Fiordland National Park.-Geography:One of the most complex of the many fjords on this coast, it is also one of the largest, 40 kilometres in length and eight kilometres wide at its widest point...

 and Breaksea Sound.

The island is roughly rectangular, with the exception of a long narrow peninsula on the west coast known as Five Fingers Peninsula: an area protected by the Taumoana (Five Fingers Peninsula) Marine Reserve

Fiordland's marine reserves

There are ten marine reserves in Fiordland region of New Zealand's South Island. They protect a wide variety of species and habitats. The original two reserves were established at the request of New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen in 1993...

.

The island is named after Capt. James Cook's ship Resolution

HMS Resolution (Cook)

HMS Resolution was a sloop of the Royal Navy, and the ship in which Captain James Cook made his second and third voyages of exploration in the Pacific...

 which landed here on Dusky Sound during Cook's Second Voyage in March 1773.

The island was chosen in 2004 to be one of New Zealand's offshore reserves, which are cleared

Island restoration

The ecological restoration of islands, or island restoration, is the application of the principles of ecological restoration to islands and island groups. Islands, due to their isolation, are home to many of the world's endemic species, as well as important breeding grounds for seabirds and some...

 of introduced species

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 to protect native species. This follows a much earlier episode, in 1894, when the Department of Lands and Survey appointed Richard Henry

Richard Treacy Henry

Richard Treacy Henry was a New Zealand conservationist and reserve manager who became an expert on the natural history of flightless birds in New Zealand, especially the Kakapo. Born in County Kildare, Ireland, his family migrated to Australia in 1851 where he grew up...

 as curator of the island, which was stocked with species such as Kakapo

Kakapo

The Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...

 and Kiwi

Kiwi

Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...

 that were threatened by mustelids on the mainland. This early attempt at using the island for conservation

Habitat conservation

Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range...

 management failed when stoat

Stoat

The stoat , also known as the ermine or short-tailed weasel, is a species of Mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip...

s reached the island in 1900.

On 15 July 2009, Resolution island was at the epicenter

Epicenter

The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates...

 of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

.

Further reading

• Hill, Susanne; & Hill, John. (1987). Richard Henry of Resolution Island. John McIndoe: Dunedin. ISBN 0-86868-094-X
• Wilson, Kerry-Jayne. (2004). Flight of the Huia. Canterbury University Press: Christchurch. ISBN 0-908812-52-3

External links

• New Zealand to create more island sanctuaries Birdlife International
• Stoats cleared from Resolution Island Wildlifeextra.com