Ngāti Kuri wants visitors to enjoy and respect the beautiful north.
Ngāti Kuri wants visitors to enjoy and respect the beautiful north.
Ngāti Kuri urges visitors to reduce waste and stay off unmarked tracks.
Sheridan Waitai highlights the need for funding and care to protect Te Rerenga Wairua.
Te Haumihi received $6.6 million from Foundation North for conservation work over three years.
“Tread lightly and respect the taonga.” That’s the plea from Ngāti Kuri conservation project group Te Haumihi ahead of the summer holiday period.
As many people make plans to travel north for the summer holidays, Te Haumihi is encouraging manuhiri (visitors) to reduce their waste while staying in campsites, and keep off tracks in remote areas that are not marked for public use to ensure their hard work isn’t backtracked when they return in the new year.
Ngāti Kuri Trust Board trustee, and the life-force behind Te Haumihi, Sheridan Waitai says with the 500,000+ visitors to Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) each year, it’s a timely reminder of the works being done to keep to protect, restore wildlife the whenua.
“Te Haumihi’s primary focus is to ensure the continuous strengthening and reshaping of our relationship within the taiao in our changing world. But, that wero extends beyond the few kaimahi,” says Waitai.
“I’d encourage all travellers, and those that return home for holidays, to leave the whenua better than when they arrived,” Waitai says.
More than 500,000 visit Cape Reina each year.
Te Haumihi: Protecting our global hotspot for taonga
Over the past three years, Te Haumihi rōpū have been implementing predator controls by fencing, trapping, and stock-taking of trees on their whenua which spans the Northland peninsula from West of Hukatere, along Te Oneroa a Tohe, across Houhora to Te Rerenga Wairua and close Islands.
“Our whenua has been labelled the global hotspot for taonga. There are more species in one particular bay up here than the biodiversity of an entire continent!” says Waitai.
“We have the most diverse taonga across both land and ocean, most of which are endemic, all concentrated in the locations within our rohe, so we’re highly sought after globally from researchers.”
Yet, she says the amount of manuhiri coming to the whenua is proving challenging and further funding and care is needed to ensure the whenua is protected and the works can continue.
Ngāti Kuri Trust Board trustee Sheridan Waitai.
“Funding from our usual partners like the Department of Conservation is drying up. Many do not know that we actually own Te Rerenga Wairua, it’s not a right to be here, it’s a privilege.
“There has been no real investment by the Government in decades. It comes down to things as small as not having enough toilets for the amount of manuhiri coming on to the whenua!”
Following the Jobs for Nature cuts earlier this year, Te Haumihi received a $6.6 million funding grant from Foundation North to continue their conservation works for the next three years.
This funding covers new fencing, trapping, weeding, planting and monitoring taonga species that are threatened or at risk of extinction here and on offshore islands – with urgent work needed, and more hands essential to getting it done.
“Now with this massive koha from Foundation North, our 12-person-strong team are able to continue our mahi towards shared prosperity that benefits everyone, building resilience for our community, and reinstating mana motuhake,” she says.
“Static conservation practices left Ngāti Kuri with around 42 of our precious Taonga species on the brink of extinction locally. It is time for a reset, and it has to be done at pace.”
More than conservation: new forms of mātauranga
A typical day working with Te Haumihi could be anything from trapping, to addressing prevention methods, to diving with sharks, all of which prioritise a te ao Māori approach to conservation and teaching.
“Our mahi can be very proactive and well planned, or it can be very reactive according to what the maramataka says and how nature is behaving.”
She says a part of the project is learning about the mauri of every taonga and what it’s giving to the environment, even after its natural life-cycle.
“At its core, the project is allowing iwi to live and breathe their practices.”
“It’s more than just the physical mahi, it’s Māori learning, understanding, and reimagining a future that encourages mātauranga tuku iho (knowledge that’s passed down generations) of what we have inherited.
“But, we also hope to see new mātauranga generated from our rangatahi and passed on.”
Since starting in 2021, Te Haumihi have invested in seven key priority areas within the rohe, and have lofty goals for 2025.
