Reconnection for protection

Te Waikēkēwai, a stream which flows to Te Waihora, runs through seven small whenua Māori blocks administered by the Māori Trustee, collectively managed as the Waiwhakaheketupapaku Trust.

Making up 11 hectares total, the Waiwhakaheketupapaku blocks are leased to a local dairy farmer, but needed work to bring them up to compliance.

“Before this work, the fencing was rotting and falling down – the current lessee would not have been able to continue farming there,” says Kaituitui Taiwhenua | Rural Coordinator James Beck.

Nearly three-quarters of whenua Māori blocks administered by the Māori Trustee generate less than $10,000 per year, which means compliance costs are often out of reach for owners.

But with funding from a Te Puni Kōkiri fund, Te Tumu Paeroa kaimahi were able to commission 1560m of new stock fencing and control invasive weeds. And with project funding from Te Taumutu Rūnanga, ECAN and Ministry for the Environment, another 200m of fencing was installed, invasive willows which were clogging the stream were removed, and native plants put in along the edges of the stream.

“The trusts were not in a position to absorb these costs, so the funding has given this whenua an economic lifeline now and into the future – it has made a significant difference to this trust and owners,” says James.

The mahi has also contributed to the long-term, rūnanga-led restoration of the stream and its connected wetlands.

Whakaora Te Waikēkēwai Kaiwhakahaere Kaupapa Sophie McGregor explains that in pre-European times the area was a network of swamps, marshes and streams, an important mahinga kai for Taumutu.

Te Waikēkēwai holds particular significance to the hapū because it links the pā sites of two important ancestors: Te Ruahikihiki and his son Moki II. Te Ruahikihiki’s pā was at Orariki, where Hone Wetere church is now, and Te Pā o Mōki is still an active marae.

“It connects that whakapapa together,” says Sophie.

Sophie says the project is about bringing back the mauri of the stream, and they are ultimately aiming to reestablish an ecosystem healthy enough for tuna and kēkēwai (freshwater crayfish). They have already had some wins.

A kōtuku (white heron) was spotted near one of the project’s newly reconstructed wetlands recently, and a matuku-hūrepo (Australasian bittern) is thought to have taken up residence in Orariki wetland. Both birds are nationally critical, with populations of less than 200.

“We’re all really stoked and have all started learning a lot more about bittern. So it’s really exciting to see them coming back, not just passing through, but hanging out, and setting up habitat.”

Despite its history and significance to mana whenua, it’s legally classified in council plans as a ‘drain’, adding a layer of complexity to the negotiating care of it among stakeholders.

“It’s a classified drain, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a drain in the sense that it’s got no value. It’s still a thriving stream with a thriving ecosystem,” says Sophie. “Getting people on board to look at it differently is one of those things that’s also needed.”

Partnership with organisations like Te Tumu Paeroa is key to success of any environmental restoration project.

“Partnerships are the most effective way to get lasting impact and change. It requires not just council and iwi, but also the community, landowners – we all need to be on board.”

• Are you an owner of one of the Waiwhakaheketupapaku blocks? If you’re not sure, you can search your name to find out. If you know you are, but haven’t updated your contact details lately, get in touch with us.
•  You can find out more about the Whakaora Te Waikēkēwai project on the Te Waihora co-governance website.