The Minister for Treaty Negotiations says today's handover of almost half a billion dollars of forestry assets provides a significant resource base for iwi in the central North Island.
The Treelord deal involves more than $280 million in cash and 176 thousand hectares of land and is the biggest Treaty of Waitangi settlement in history.
The settlement over the Kaingaroa forest area in June last year made Maori the largest forestry owners in New Zealand.
The handover to eight iwi is taking place at the Hirangi Marae, near Turangi, and began with a traditional powhiri.
The ceremony was to have been held at Waihi Marae, the ancestral home of Ngati Tuwharetoa, but a series of earthquakes and heavy rain last week raised fears of a landslide and forced the evacuation of Waihi Village.
