Sustainability

At Milford Sound Trips & Tramps has been involved in a stoat trapping project since 2003 (even before it was the thing to do) and continue to check the predator traps on the foreshore delta area, in the heart of Milford Sound.

Trips & Tramps also enjoy a close relationship with the community, as any small business does!  We provide many volunteer hours to various committees, alongside logistical and financial support.

Steve is a trustee on the Coal Island Trust and the Kepler Challenge Mountain Mountain Run Trust. Both of these charitable organisations have objectives in the conservation space.

Trips & Tramps have made numerous donations over the years to local events and community groups, including the Kepler Challenge Mountain Run, Fiordland College, Fiordland Community Event Centre, Fiordland Squash Club, Te Anau School, and Fiordland Trails Trust to name a few.

Currently Trips & Tramps is involved in two Jobs for Nature projects based in Te Anau. We are involved in the Fiordland buffer zone project working alongside Environment Southland.  This project involves the removal of extremely invasive weeds from the Lake Mistletoe Conservation Area and around the Te Anau township.  The second contract is working with the Fiordland Trails Trust in their three-year project which includes weed and predator control, plus native plantings alongside the Lake 2 Lake Cycle Trail. This work is crucial to the protection of our local biodiversity for years to come.

At Trips & Tramps we have made a commitment to measure and manage our emissions. It is a goal for our company to become carbon neutral and to encourage other local businesses to follow this path.

Trips & Tramps recognises that it operates in a special area of the world, Fiordland National Park and that its operations and resource use will impact the environment. The business is committed to operating in an energy-efficient environment and considers the management of its greenhouse gas emissions to be the next step in creating a sustainable business model we can be proud of. 

The goal is for Trips & Tramps to offset our emissions with a local planting scheme to protect and expand the local native forest and waterways. The uncertainty of the global pandemic has had major implications on our financial and mental capacity to act on aspirations to offset our carbon footprint. It is hoped in 2022 we will further ideas and projects that will move us towards our goal of being carbon neutral.  

Throughout our carbon journey we plan to share our knowledge. We also hope to motivate other businesses, particularly our contractors to begin their journey.

Despite all the challenges Trips & Tramps is committed to the carbon journey.  With the return of international visitors and the increasing urgency to combat climate change, now is the time to act.  We believe every small business has a part to play.

Read full report: Trips & Tramps 2021 Greenhouse Emission Report