LTFT Newsletter - Issue 7

Te Reo Kākāriki ISSUE 07

Q U A R T E R LY N E W S L E T T E R JUNE 2020

Tēnā koutou Message from the Chair Ko te Reo Kākāriki tēnei e mihi ana ki a koutou e noho whānui ana ki te ao.

Tēnei te tuku pānui atu kia mōhio koutou mō ngā mahi e kawea nei ki muri, ki mua rānei mō te tupu rākau ki runga i ō tātou whenua. Nō reira ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.

Ki a rātou kua whetūrangitia, e kemokemo mai rā i te rangi, kei te tika ngā kupu e kīia nei ‘He tātai tangata ki te whenua, ka ngaro. He tātai whetū ki te rangi, mau tonu, mau tonu’ Nō reira moe mai koutou, okioki atu.

Ka hoki mai ki a tātou e noho nei i te ao mārama me te kī, tēnā koutou, tēnā rā tātou katoa.

COVID-19 – Alert Level 1 We are now at Alert Level 1, and the risk of exposure to COVID-19 and transmission in the New Zealand community is very low. Despite recent isolation concerns and resurgence of COVID-19 cases at the borders, the alert status remains at level 1, which means movement around the country and most other restrictions and legal requirements on businesses, services and individuals have been relaxed.

The messages are: 1. Advise people with possible COVID-19 symptoms that they should not enter the workplace or other premises.

2. Enable good health, hygiene and safety practices.

3. Enable people to keep contact tracing records by displaying a QR code.

4. Encourage physical distancing where practical.

Our Trust office hours have returned to normal – 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Monday to Friday. We remind owners that owner

registrations, requests for grant support, and tangihanga grants can now be processed online. This can often speed up the service to you or save you a trip to the office. Contact our office on 07 386 8839, visit our website www.ltft. co.nz or email ownership@ltft.co.nz to find out more.

Forest Access As reported on our websites and recent pānui, our forests are now open. The usual access rules for hunting and recreation use now apply for winter months. The winter hours are:

• We look at the remarkable marae development at Tutetawha Marae.

• We look at new technologies in the logging industry that will help improve efficiencies for logging contractors and provide potential new products for radiata pine.

Lastly, I want to thank you, the owners, for your continued support for the Trustees and staff over the recent lockdown period. Please continue to be safe, take care and be kind.

‘He aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.’

• weekday access: 4.00 p.m.–8.00 p.m.

• weekends and public holidays: 7.00 a.m.–8.00 p.m.

In this issue • We profile new trustees, Kelly Te Heuheu and David O’Rourke.

Binky Ellis Chairperson

TE RANGITAUTINI NORTHCROFT AND MATIU HEPERI NORTHCROFT – REPILING OF THE WHARE TUPUNA TUTETAWHA

DINING ROOM UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Tutetawha Marae Development

PUMICE FOR THE WHAREKAI FOUNDATION SUPPLIED BY LAKE TAUPŌ FOREST TRUST

TE REO KĀKĀRIKI

The Tutetawha Marae Development Project has a long history commencing in the mid-1930s with the provision of native timber resources – rimu and totara – and first funded by the Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board (TMTB) then chaired by Hoani Te Heuheu Tukino VI. The vision and inspiration for the marae and meeting place were initiated by Kuia Riihi Ngapera Northcroft (nee Te Waaka Tuku/Ihaia) and Koroua Te Awhi Pou Heperi Taiwhakarere Northcroft for the Ngāti Tutetawha hapū.

Eighty-five years on, the project has picked up appreciably again with the support of the TMTB, Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust, Lake Taupō Forest Trust and Te Pae o Waimihia Trust.

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JUNE 2020

Wharekai ‘Now we have a whole new dining room, which is a bit of a change because all we used to have before were some fourby-twos with some corrugated iron on top! We’ve never had a wharekai and only seven years ago, we never had an ablution block – we were still using a long drop! We are one of the last Tūwharetoa marae to upgrade,’ says Matiu.

The new, air-conditioned dining room can comfortably seat 250 people and will come with a fully fitted-out kitchen and walk-in chiller.

DINING ROOM STILL BEING FITTED OUT INTERNALLY

Wharepuni

Completion

‘The original wharepuni was built in the 1930s and it’s still 99 per cent there under the new roof and frame,’ says Matiu Heperi Northcroft, one of the principal drivers of the project. ‘We wanted to preserve the whole building – the only things we had to replace were the piles underneath. Therefore, the mission for us was converting the old mahau as an extension to the inside to give us more space.’

Tutetawha Marae Māori Reservation Chairman Hoani Urukanoa Simon said, ‘it was imperative that the new inside conversion had to be exactly in keeping with what was already there so the integrity of the building was not compromised, and therefore we have been very lucky in accessing recycled rimu and other native timbers for the necessary compatibility mahi currently in progress.’

Whakairo, tukutuku and kōwhaiwhai options are still being worked through, and a future formal opening will also be subject to their completion. Options are also being sought for further funding to complete other fundamental components of the development project.

‘A unique feature of the new mahau is a 300-year-old temple door and 400-yearold temple window, both originally from Nepal.

‘We very much liked, and could spiritually relate to, the holistic reverence and veneration that the Nepalese people apply to their doorways and windows, and therefore this cultural interaction of holistic acknowledgement is very fitting for our whare tupuna development,’ says Matiu.

The completion of the Tutetawha Marae Project is subject to further funding confirmation and completion of the whakairo and other aspects.

‘We also need to complete other development components such as a room for kaumātua/kuia, wharemoe, paepae, etc, which will hopefully also be all interconnected and sheltered, and a few other areas that we will also importantly continue to involve our whānau/hapū in, but we’ll get there in time.

‘In summary, we would like to respectfully again thank and acknowledge the support of the Lake Taupō Forest Trust and its owner constituency and also our other principlal supporters in helping us achieve our vision for Tutetawha Marae and Ngāti Tutetawha hapū.’

THE OLD WHARE ENCLOSED AND PRESERVED IN A NEW STEEL FRAME

TE REO KĀKĀRIKI

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JUNE 2020

Kelly Te Heuheu

‘We need to remember our old people who sacrificed these forest lands to benefit their mokopuna in the future. We must always honour what they did for us during their years of harsh Trustee struggle and ensure that we are dedicated and committed to Kelly Te Heuheu is one of the new upholding their wishes. So while we’re growing our commercial Trustees who have been recently portfolio of forestry, the Trustees’ highest priority must be always appointed to the Lake Taupō Forest to protect their tikanga, to protect our land and assets and to fully Trust. ‘I’ve spent the last 30 years support and deliver to our landowners, their descendants.

‘Recently, we’ve had the lockdown with the COVID-19 working with our people on Māori pandemic with many whānau facing issues with health, financial land issues and hapū mahi and treaty claims investigation and difficulty and social isolation. For Ngāti Tūwharetoa, we’ve had a research,’ says Kelly. collective response of support from the Tūwharetoa Trust Board, ‘I was nominated to go on the forest trust to be the voice for our people when considering decisions at the board table. Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust, Ngāti Tūwharetoa Fisheries, some Some of the big issues for me are pest management and the farm trusts, the Lake Taupō Forest Trust and others, and this is use of the lethal toxic 1080 aerial mass destruction on our food working well.

‘I believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has made everyone source, the waterways our life source, and we must be protecting reflect about what is really important. We need to continue our long-term forestry workers on the land. Target ground pest to look after our people. Many are struggling, and as an iwi control must be a high priority.

‘Another key focus must be to improve communication collective, we need to deliver housing, employment, social between the Trust and the landowners who we represent so support permanently and show true manaakitanga and empathy.

We need to do it ourselves, and we are strong enough to do that. their voices are seriously considered.

‘Our connection to our forestry, for me, is strongly cultural and There is no excuse. It’s about being focused and being really serious that it will happen.’ spiritual as well as being commercial.

David O’Rourke Trustee

family and I ended up staying in a tent for 63 nights at Matai Bay on the Karikari Peninsula. We stayed so long my wife was cutting the grass growing up the tent walls with a pair of scissors – she still reminds me of “the 63 nights”! It was hard work, but I ended up passing with fist class honours, so I was pretty happy with that.’

‘Following that, I worked at a chartered accountancy firm, Horwath Francis Aitken in Kaitaia. I moved on to develop a couple of subdivisions in Northland. In 2012, I got asked to visit Fulton Hogan in Auckland for a couple of weeks, looking at a project to recycle asphalt. That project went well, leading on to another three years with Fulton Hogan – a great New Zealand company working with great people.

‘While I was there, I received a call from a Sumitomo Corporation subsidiary, Summit Forest NZ Ltd, to help build their Northland wood flows. Moving back to Ahipara and working for a subsidiary of a 400 plus years old Japanese corporation that was an opportunity I wanted to experience. The business unit I was managing for Fulton Hogan was going well, and the timing seemed right to move to another learning experience.’

‘Growing a New Zealand subsidiary owned by overseas shareholdings was a really interesting space. I quickly figured out that to trade and grow for more than 400 years required a disciplined but partner-centric way of looking at the business environment. Over a short period of time, I ended up working with the very small, but very dynamic exec team at Summit headquarters in Auckland. Developing long-term partnerships with a multi-generational focus was a good fit with Japanese values and tikanga. This way of “doing business” resonated not only with myself but the team. It was only natural we eventually aligned with Māori land and forest owners. It was an exciting time being able to design and develop ways of doing business that were not the norm but with trusting partners who shared a genuine desire to engage in long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships.’

‘So I’ve become very interested in strategies that are focused on the long term and are win-win, serving both stakeholders (continued on page 6)

David O’Rourke was recently elected to the Lake Taupō Forest Trust. His grand-father, Norman Newton, was from Omapere in Northland while his grandmother, Chase-Davies, was from Ngāti Rauhoto

Rangitopeora in Tūwharetoa.

David has spent much of his life in the forestry business. He left school when he was 15 and went straight into the bush, starting work in the Bay of Plenty. For the next 17 years, he worked all over New Zealand, becoming a forestry contractor and working in everything from silviculture to clear-felling.

At the age of 35, he decided to get out of the bush and go back to school to get more control over his future. ‘I figured that one day age would catch up with me, but if I had an education I could still contribute when my body broke down,’ says David. ‘I also wanted to inspire my kids that education was achievable to anyone who wanted it and was a viable alternative to physical work: both have their benefits.

‘Forestry, civil contracting and mechanical engineering are what my father taught me, but creating business is what really inspired me. I studied accounting because without understanding the numbers in commerce, you’re not going to get far, and information systems because I knew zero about technology and knew technology was part of our future.

‘I started at Waiariki Polytechnic, moving onto the University of Waikato where I studied for a Bachelor of Management Studies majoring in accounting and business management systems with strategy and e-commerce for good measure. I treated my studies like a job; 50 hours per week, rain, hail or shine. With a wife and four young kids in tow, failure was not an option.

‘My last research paper did not require full attendance at university, so we decided to go to Northland to study. My wife, TE REO KĀKĀRIKI

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Logging Industry Futures World-first log scaling robot earns Kiwis a Global Top 50 ranking

Tauranga-based agricultural robotics and automation company Robotics Plus has been named a Global Top 50 Robotics Company for its industrychanging Robotic Scaling Machine (RSM), which automates the accurate volumetric measurement (scaling) of logs on trucks and trailers, replacing manual measurement.

The world-first robotic innovation that scans and measures export logs on trucks has landed its Kiwi developers on the 2020 RBR50, Robotics Business Review’s prestigious global list recognising the 50 most innovative and transformative robotics companies of the year.

Commercially launched in June 2019, the technology was developed in collaboration with Mount Maunganuibased ISO Limited, which commissioned the first RSM for its facility at the Port of Tauranga and has had it in operation since November 2018. ISO now has eight robots installed across the North Island, scaling more than 25 per cent of New Zealand’s 20 million cubic metres of annual log exports. Further installations are planned around the country in 2020.

Dr Alistair Scarfe, Co-Founder and CTO of Robotics Plus, led the RSM technology development. ‘It’s really exciting to be recognised alongside some of the biggest and best-known robotics, software and automation companies in the world, including Boston Dynamics, ABB Robotics, Yasakawa Motoman, Nvidia, SICK and Microsoft,’ he says.

Dr Matt Glenn, CEO of Robotics Plus, says, ‘This award validates our collaborative approach to innovation.

Our team worked incredibly hard to design and build this world-first log scaling robot in just 12 months by working closely with ISO and a number of other local manufacturing suppliers.’

Paul Cameron, CEO of ISO, says the automated process is already having a significant impact as it is a safer, more efficient and more productive system than the previous manual system used throughout the world, which requires people to hand scan the logs by climbing between trucks and trailers.

‘The Robotic Scaling Machine can automatically scan logs on a truck in TE REO KĀKĀRIKI

3 to 4 minutes, which compares with up to 40 minutes for manual measurement using a ruler. Importantly, it also eliminates exposure to hazards and moves those people into a safer environment and into more skilled roles.’

Steve Saunders, Co-Founder and Chairman of Robotics Plus, says it’s fantastic to see New Zealand’s worldclass robotics capability being recognised on the international stage.

(Courtesy: Woodweek)

Eco-friendly treatment gives radiata timber durable properties for outdoor uses Scion Research in Rotorua has developed a new biobased treatment technology that can give softwood radiata pine durable properties. The treatment increases the performance of radiata pine timber in outdoor uses, including decking, cladding, outdoor furniture and exterior joinery.

Unlike conventional preservative treatments, which generally contain heavy metals, the new stability treatment technology is eco-friendly, using renewables obtained from processing agricultural wastes.

Wood modified with the new treatment has considerable advantages for consumers, industry and the environment.

The treatment adds hardness and stability

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(resistance to shrink/swell) as well as some durability (resistance to fungi) that rival and outperform some popular naturally durable hardwoods.

This technology creates an alternative for customers who do not want threatened tropical hardwoods or wood treated with heavy metals. It also offers a range of natural wood colours providing options for designers and architects wishing to profile wood in their designs.

The potential to increase export value with this technology is significant. For example, adding treatment before export of New Zealand’s sustainably grown radiata is projected to add three to four times the value of the timber product.

Treatment is applied by soaking and impregnating the wood with their patentpending biobased aqueous formulation.

Once heated, it forms long molecules (polymers) in the wood to enhance wood stability with benefits to hardness and durability.

New Zealand would benefit from a greater range of sawn timber export products if onshore production of modified radiata was embraced. If a production plant using this new technology were built in New Zealand, it could create up to 20 direct jobs and generate indirect benefits to wood product manufacturers.

(Courtesy: Scion Research, Rotorua)

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(continued from page 4) and the planet well. I have found that real value can be found by simply listening to the voice of the people. This of course is a journey, not a fast-fix remedy to the problems we see.

‘The mix of indigenous and western business models could be developed further, not only for the Lake Taupō Forest Trust, but for NZ Inc. I believe this type of approach could help resolve some of the social and resource capacity turmoil that is currently going on in the world. I still think the very real and intrinsic values of tikanga and whenua, which sit apart from the financial perspective, have yet to be fully understood with further examination and exploration required.

‘For Lake Taupō Forest Trust, I’ve been keen to come back and see if I can help out in some way. I haven’t spent a lot of time in the rohe, but I intend to change that. I have been fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity with the Trust and am looking forward to working with the trustees to secure our future.

‘In my view, the forest has been well run by the previous Trustees, Lake Taupō Forest Managers and NZ Forest

Managers. When we take over the Crown lease in June 2021, we truly will have the capability to grow and enhance our position. Setting up our commercial company, Tupu Angitu Ltd, is integral to our strategy of considered, managed growth – to understand who we are and how we wish to express ourselves in this world. We are very fortunate to be in this position. Providing we have clear expectations and understandings of each other, I see great benefits collaborating with other trusts and iwi organisations.

Building scale and leveraging off each other’s skills and combined resources, working together as an iwi, we can cast our vision wide and achieve great things for our people. There are definite advantages to the benefits of scale that could be passed on to owners and beneficiaries.

‘I remember at one of our Lake Taupō Forest Trust AGMs, one of our trustees noted that our tupuna made a momentous decision to plant the forest to provide us with a better future. That decision means we can now engage in a meaningful conversation about our future.

‘It’s a reminder that we as trustees

also need to have the resolve to make similarly momentous decisions that help further strengthen the position of the trust, our owners and our beneficiaries into the future.’

Non-commercial Review

You may recall over recent newsletters the development of our commercial entity Tupu Angitu Ltd. The purpose of the commercial entity is to manage and grow the Trust’s commercial assets.

The Trustees are now in the process of recruiting new directors to this company.

In line with the establishment of the commercial entity, the Trustees are also reviewing the Trust’s non-commercial functions to ensure these too are fit for purpose. These functions include finance, administration, human resources (people), grants, strategy, policy, communication and programmes. The aim is to make sure that there are sufficient resources and capabilities to help deliver on the Trust’s objectives once the Crown exits, in or around July 2021.

Do you know these people or their uri?

The owners below are owed significant funds of unclaimed monies. If you know these people or their uri, we would really appreciate knowing their whereabouts so we can get them registered and have their monies paid.

SURNAME

FIRST NAME

SURNAME

FIRST NAME

HADDON

Wahinepai Bernice

PITIHIRA

Temetera Tini

HENARE

Te Pae

RAUKURA

Taupe

HINETAI

Te Raukohe

REIWANA

Harata

HINEURU

Ngawae

SULLIVAN

John Tatara

HINEWAKA

Rini

TAWERA

Noti (Te Ruawai)

HONA

Raurangi Tipu

TE AWATEA

Tuaiwa

KAHURA

Rangitihi

TE HATI

Te Waka

KAWANA

Paranihi Wi

TE HATI

Waiparemo

MIHAERA

Ngarangi

TE KAHUI

Te Hokowhiti Atu

MILL

William Bremner

TE KAPUA

Tamahou

NAPIA

Chrystal Louise

TE WHATAPUHOU

Himiona Timi

NGAPINE

Hinekura

TOHUTOHU

Te Horiwai

NGAPINE

Te Kohu

TUTUNUI

Taoroa

PEREKI

Tiringi Hemo

WHANAU TRUST

Neil Joseph Ngakuru Edwards

HEAD OFFICE

81 Town Centre PO Box 102 Tūrangi, New Zealand Telephone: 07 386 8839 Fax: 07 386 0188

CONTACT US

general@ltft.co.nz

+64 7 386 8839 www.ltft.co.nz

IMAGE PERMISSIONS:

Kākāriki courtesy of firinosa/123RF Stock Photo Other images courtesy of Lake Taupō Forest Trust, Tutetawha Marae Development Project and HUIA