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TE WAHAROA Gateway to the Park
experts believed the pines couldn’t be stopped, in 2011 he helped the Trust apply for funding to a range of national funding agencies, including the NZ Lottery Grants Board, to raise sufficient funds to control pines in the park.
No easy task
“We had confidence we could get there but we knew it wouldn’t be easy,” says Andrew. There were some enormous trees in the park that had been planted over a hundred years ago by unknowing settlers. Along with the pine plantations bordering the Abel Tasman they had become the seed source for the hundreds of thousands of wildings that followed.
Yet, the big trees were often the easy ones. Wildings rarely grow where you want them. “It’s an enormous physical challenge as you are forced to go where the trees are. It’s usually in a patch of gorse, or half way up a steep gully. Then there’s the wasp nests, thick bush, and rain, cold and sun. Getting rid of them involved lots of hard mahi (work),” says Andrew. Techniques were refined as the team learnt. Most of the trees were poisoned by drilling into the trunk, and pouring a herbicide into the holes. Others were sprayed from a helicopter. The trees die standing, decaying into the forest floor over time.
A team effort
Not long after the Birdsong Trust began its work private environmental trust Project Janszoon was launched. Project Janszoon works with mana whenua iwi, DOC, and the community to get rid of pests and weeds, bring back native wildlife and bush, and inspire a culture of care for the Abel Tasman.
Ricky Ross drills into the trunk of a wilding pine as part of the poisoning effort, Abel Tasman National Park.
“When Janszoon came along we became a bit more ambitious,” says Darryl. Janszoon was able to help the Birdsong Trust accelerate its work. Since 2011, the over $1m project has seen hundreds of thousands of wilding pines poisoned, stretching from Tinline Bay in the south to Taupō Point in the north. The Department of Conservation (DOC) and Tasman District Council also came on board with support from the Abel Tasman Foreshore Scenic Reserve Fund.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Abel Tasman App by Project Janszoon has been downloaded nearly 50,000 times and features free information on native wildlife, plants, walking times and points of interest, as well as history, weather, tide times and a geo-location map.
To download for free search Abel Tasman in your App or Google Play stores.
“Ten years ago if you took a boat up the coast all you could see was pine trees, now you struggle to see a single one. People are really noticing the change, I get a lot of comments from visitors because it is so visible, it really hits home what has been achieved,” says Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger Dan Chisnall.
In 2017, 30 hectares of pines at Wairima / Bark Bay was the last major stand of mature trees to be controlled, removing a major seed source, and fire risk. These decaying trees are now a great source of food for kākā, a charismatic forest parrot released in the area in 2019. The birds feast on the bugs living amongst the decomposing wood.
Removing the seed sources was a huge step forward. It meant energy could be transitioned into controlling seedlings. It’s Dan Chisnall’s job to ensure the pines don’t come back. “We need to keep on top of the coning cycle, removing young wildings before they get to maturity. Breaking the cycle over time is crucial,” he says.
Dying wilding pines at Wallaby Creek, Abel Tasman National Park.
New beginnings
Protecting the gains for future generations
Project Janszoon was launched with an aim to transform the ecological prospects of the Abel Tasman over 25 years. To ensure those gains are protected past that timeframe Project Janszoon and the Government signed the Tomorrow Accord. This agreement means that as transformations like controlling the wilding pines are achieved, the responsibility for maintaining them are handed back to DOC.
The Tomorrow Accord is a win-win for everyone says Project Janszoon director Bruce Vander Lee. “Ensuring the wilding pines are controlled into the future is an example of what is possible when everyone works together. It is humbling to have been a part of helping complete the community’s vision. With the Abel Tasman now nearly free of wilding pines, what was a multi-million dollar problem can now be kept at bay for a small fraction of that cost,” he says.
And the community effort doesn’t stop. Alistair Sheat is the current chair of the Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust. He runs a trapline along the park coast and always carries a small handsaw to deal with any wildings he sees. “Volunteers keep an eye out for wildings and if they can’t pull them out they report them to DOC.”
Ultimately, the removal of the pines will allow native forest to recover, transforming the park’s skyline and providing habitat for native species. While the pines have been halted in their tracks, DOC’s Dan Chisnall says there’s at least another ten years of vigilance to ensure they do not get away again. But there are promising signs.
“Nothing grows under a pine forest, all you see is pine needles. But a couple of years after poisoning the pines we are getting the first flush of new native seedlings coming up in the nice dappled light. It’s proof all that hard work was worth it.”
TE WHĀWHĀRUA
TUPUNA O NGĀ TĀNGATA O NGĀ HEKENGA
Words: Renee Thomas. Te Whāwhārua was called a myriad of names by the early European settlers in the early 1840’s. They were in awe of his size and stature so called him ‘Big Fellow’ – hence Pikiwhara.
He travelled from Kāwhia in the hekenga (migrations) to settle here in Te Tauihu. He was adept at using traditional weapons, such as taiaha, mere pounamu, tewhatewha, pouwhenua as well as the introduced musket.
Te Whāwhārua made Motueka his home. He is recorded as a staunch supporter of the leaders Te Rangihaeata and Te Rauparaha and he travelled to Wairau to support his Ngāti Rārua whānau and their claim on the whenua there when the New Zealand Company was trying to take the lands to sell to new settlers.
Disagreements over this whenua resulted in the Wairau affray which ended with the deaths of 4 tūpuna and 22 Pākehā. Ahuta, the wife of Te Whāwhārua was killed at the affray, and their son Wirihana Te Whāwhārua was wounded. Wirihana stayed with Te Rangihaeata and the Ngāti Toa whānau who took him back to the North Island where he was restored to wellness.
Te Whāwhārua returned to his home in Motueka, after considering the fallout following the Wairau affray, he decided to leave the Motueka area to avoid any retaliation against his whānau for his actions, ensuring the safety of his whānau and their status as mana whenua in this rohe.
Uri (descendants) of Te Whāwhārua were able to attend the dawn unveiling of the carved pou that depicts him and cements his whakapapa to Mārahau and Motueka and recognises his connections to Wairau. Te Whāwhārua stands here as one of the tūpuna of the whenua in Mārahau for the whānau of Wakatū Incorporation.
The installation of this pou is one of a number in the area, with more scheduled to be put in place throughout the National Park by manawhenua. This is part of a re-indigenising of spaces and places considered wāhi tapū (sacret sites) to tangata whenua.
It is an opportunity for our rich history and stories to be shared and remembered.
