Raukumara project a case in point

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

With regard to the Weekender, December 2: In 10 years it will be too late.

An excellent article with worthwhile and thoughtful quotes from Dame Anne Salmond, Manu Caddie, Sam Gibson, Rangi Ahipene and Rob Morrison.

It’s great that an organisation such as Pure Advantage is putting money and effort into fixing ecological problems in Tairāwhiti, but it is vital that central government plays a major role with $$s and other support — so the talk of significant cuts to government budgets concerns me.

The current Raukumara Pae Maunga project is a case in point. This long overdue project, led by Te Whanau-a-Apanui and Ngati Porou, in concert with the Department of Conservation, is broad-ranged but mainly focused on pest control over roughly 125,000ha of the Raukumara Ranges — the object being to restore the indigenous ecosystems and mauri of this part of the Raukumara.

Successive governments have spent very little on pest control and ecological care in Tairāwhiti, hence the ecological collapse of our native forests that we are witnessing now, caused by deer, goats, possums, pigs, rats, stoats, mice and feral cats.

The Raukumara Pae Maunga group received $34m in 2020, to be spent over four years on this exceptional project. Due to the Covid pandemic and fairly regular bad weather, the end date has been pushed out to 2026 — what happens after that is anyone’s guess.

If the funding and regular pest control does not continue, then the amazing progress that has been made so far will be lost. This would be a tragedy.

This project has also had worthwhile social outcomes with job creation, raising the skill levels and the mana of many people. This is why it is so important for central government to continue funding projects like this, as this will complement other big projects like that proposed by organisations such as Pure Advantage.

Having said that, it is still central government and its agencies that have the primary responsibilities for protecting our unique and endangered species and waters. They are taonga for all of us.

Grant Vincent, Chair, Forest & Bird Gisborne Tairāwhiti branch