Forestry, nursery partnership a unique chance for learning

The group found a whau plant with plenty of seed pods.

UAWANUI Native Nursery is working with Aratu Forests to restore and replenish forests with native plants while helping to develop capacity in the East Coast town.

Uawanui has a memorandum of understanding with Aratu Forests, signed in November 2023, that has created a partnership between the two entities. As part of this, Aratu supports learning opportunities for the group which includes visiting forests like Te Marunga to ecosource seeds.

These seeds are tended and cared for until they grow into plants about 50cm tall, then they are returned to the whenua they are from to help restore the ngahere (bush).

Uawanui nursery brings in rangatahi between the ages of 17 and 24 who are not sure what their next steps are in life or who want to learn more about working in the outdoors, as well as contribute to their iwi and learn about their whakapapa.

Uawanui Native Nursery is based in Cook Street, Tolaga Bay. It is here where, over 12 months,  a variety of seedlings are raised which eventually go back into forests to be replanted to continue growing.

Te Marunga Forest is significant to many of the cadets as they are from the area and it connects back to their whakapapa.

Uawanui nursery manager Liz Puha said they were excited about being able to go into the forest to ecosource native seeds that will one day return to the whenua as plants.

“There’s a whole variety of native seeds in this forest. You have to look all over from the top canopies to the sub-canopies and on the ground as well.

“All the plants will end up back here. We always do a planting where we collected the seeds from,” she said.

The team have done ecosourcing before, but this is their first time in Te Marunga Forest.

There they found hundreds of mānuka and whau seeds which Liz said was a great result.

During the Friday trip they were taught history of the area by Jock Walker, the Uawanui fencing manager, and a wealth of whakapapa knowledge.

He spoke about how Te Marunga  would have once been full of different pā sites. He quizzed the cadets about some of the different tīpuna that are connected to the whenua.

Hatara Awarua, 19, and Paddy Blackman, 20, are two of the Uawanui eco-cadets.

Paddy said going into the forestry blocks was really cool because they usually did their ecosourcing in flat areas, but the forest was challenging.

“It’s a challenge with the terrain. You have to be on your A-game but you get to see the deep ngahere for yourself and appreciate the feeling of being in the forest.”

Paddy joined Uawanui because he wants to learn more about plants and specifically rongoā (medicinal) plants.

“We are in a position where we are able to pay it forward and give back to the community in a time where we are still affected by the cyclone. We can be on the front line of helping restore waterways.”

Hatara is from Waipiro Bay and joined Uawanui to learn how to grow native trees and help replenish the land and rivers.

He used to grow gardens with his father as a child and has worked as a tree planter for forestry before coming to Uawanui.

“Growing natives is a lot different to forestry. You have to treat the plants like your own child. You have to make sure they are fed and looked after.

“It’s cool to be doing this mahi; its a lot different to what I have done before.”

The group is taken into the forest with the guidance of Aratu Forest’s Andrew Trafford, Jack Truelock and Kirby Scammell.

Andrew Trafford said it was awesome seeing locals working and learning about this mahi.

“It’s good knowing that it’s coming back into the community for a good cause. They love it — you can see it when they are out in the forest looking for seeds.

“For Aratu we are looking forward to growing this relationship even more and are excited about what will come from this in the future.”