The old boatshed was the site of last week’s lakeside wānanga. Dr Roger Maaka explains some of the next steps towards restoring the mauri of the lake.
The old boatshed was the site of last week’s lakeside wānanga. Dr Roger Maaka explains some of the next steps towards restoring the mauri of the lake.
Lake Whatumā, in Tamatea Central Hawke’s Bay, is to be restored to life, and at the same time enhanced to offer a wealth of educational opportunities.
The restoration - which is expected to take up to 100 years - has been carefully planned and implemented since 2018 when, through the Heretaunga Tamatea Settlement Act, the 100+ hectare Lake Whatumā Reserve was returned to Tamatea Pōkai Whenua and Aorangi Māori Trust Boards. To manage the reserve and hapū interests in the lake these two boards appointed the Whatumā Management Group (WMG).”
Chairman of the WMG, Dr Roger Maaka, says “The WMG was formed in 2020 and we have been working on the project since then. Whatumā is deeply rooted in our whakapapa and we can’t take this lightly.
“We are working towards two principles: Restoring the mauri - the life force - of the lake, and connecting the people to the lake - having people positively interact with the lake.
Members of the Mauri Ora team demonstrate the use of one of the four types of traps they are using to ride the lakeside of pests, watched by Arapera Paewai of the WMG.
“Lake Whatumā is in a very bad state, everything from water quality to bird, fish and plant life is suffering. If the sediment coming off the hills is not contained it will fill the lake. Wetlands haven’t been looked after. They were a nuisance to pasture farming. Now the world has realised they have an important function.
“To restore the lake ecologically will take about 100 years, it’s a major issue. To achieve it requires community effort, scientific knowledge and a boatload of finance, expertise, patience and planning. It’s a huge project and needs good, solid work.
Wananga attendees getting a closer look at the bird habitat via canoe.
“So far we are a group of volunteers, with no resources, but a passion for the fact that this is our ancestral home. What drives us is the desire to restore it to how it was when our tipuna lived here.”
Over the past three years, environmental services trust Mauri Oho has been planting and pest trapping on the lake shore, with 80 traps of different types targeting stoats, ferrets, rats, mice and hedgehogs.
John Cheyne spoke about his longterm involvement in researching the rare matuku - Australasian bittern - that lives along the lakeside.
WMG and the Mauri Oho team have been working with local schools on planting programs, mataraunga Māori (Māori science) education programs, including monitoring water quality and biodiversity, and how improved riparian planting improves water quality and filtration to promote taonga species such as tuna (eels).
The WMG has been liaising with other lakeside landowners letting them know of the plans and progress, and several wānanga have been held to consolidate the two primary objectives.
A wānanga held last week launched the development phase of the project, which includes connecting the people back to the lake.
A designer’s impression of the boardwalk and covered birdwatching hide that will soon give people better access to the lake and its birdlife.
Step one of this phase has been the establishment of a formed driveway to access the reserve off Racecourse Road, and the beginning of a plant nursery which will expand to include the old boatshed already on site, which will be used to collect rainwater. A solar panel array will provide power to the shed and pump water to the nursery.
“We are going to need a million plants to help restore the lake,” said Dr Maaka. “We can’t afford to buy these, so a nursery will be needed to grow them. It will also be an opportunity to teach skills and eventually will provide employment.”
Members of the Mauri Ora team demonstrate the use of one of the four types of traps they are using to ride the lakeside of pests, watched by Arapeta Paewai of the WMG.
Starting from the nursery there will be a 622m-long boardwalk looping through the wetland which will have seating areas, interpretive pou markers, and bird hides to provide a chance to see wetland species such as spoonbill, crake, heron, pukeko and swans. As well, the lake is home to a very rare colony of matuku - the Australasian bittern.
There will also be an amphitheatre called Te Tapere-Nui O Whatumā, with seating encircling a “dipping pond” for water monitoring. The area will be used for school groups, wānanga, cultural and educational events.
Last week’s wānanga also introduced concept plans for an environmental education centre at the reserve site, which will be called ‘Te Rongo o Whatumā’
WMG commissioned a feasibility study into the building of the education centre, which is planned to have activity rooms, formal education areas where teachers can hold classes, and potentially a laboratory for the study of the lake and its plant, fish and birdlife. “Everything leads to education,” says Dr Maaka. “We have kohanga, kura and primary schools visiting already, we have a relationship with CHB College and we have a working relationship with Massey University.
“Agricultural engineers from Massey University are already working on the building and placement of sediment removal pumps to mitigate the runoff from farmland. Eventually, it would be good to have students on secondment here.”
Stage one of the project - the driveway, nursery and boardwalks, bird hides and amphitheatre, is hoped to be completed by next spring, with seed funding by the Aorangi Māori Trust and further funding from the MPI North Island Weather Events Fund, Centralines, HB Regional Council, the Dept of Conservation Threatened Species Fund, and Eastern and Central Community Trust. The Hatuma Waterfowlers Assn have also pitched in with a $2,000 donation for the driveway.
There is still just over $1 million to be sourced to finish this stage.
The construction of the environmental education centre is expected to have a price tag of about $3m.
Dr Maaka says “To date we have raised over $480,000 for the first stage. It is a big challenge. It’s going to take more than a village - it’s going to take a community. But we’re on our way. Whatumā is more than just a lake, and this project touches so many benefits for the community
“I have a personal ambition, that before I retire...in about three years...I want to hold an international indigenous conference on indigenous care of wetlands, in our environmental education centre at Lake Whatumā.
“This vision is so good it will row its own canoe. We just need the rowers.”
