Te Reo Kākāriki - September 2019 (Issue 4)

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Te Reo Kākāriki ISSUE 04

Q U A R T E R LY N E W S L E T T E R SEPTEMBER 2019

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 o 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. Welcome to our September 2019 edition of Te Reo Kākāriki. In this edition, we have several highlights: news on the establishment of a new commercial entity to manage our assets once the Crown exits; a story about a recent He Māhuri Toa science trip to Scion by local tamariki; a profile on Les Owens and Te Waa Logging as well as the latest from Rongomai marae. This year, the triennial election will be held for Trustees to the Lake Taupō Forest Trust, so make sure you’re registered to vote (see article in this issue). As always, we’re interested in what you have to say or what you’d like us to cover, so please let us know. Noho ora mai, nā

Binky Ellis Chairperson

CHILDREN ON HE MĀHURI TOA PROGRAMME, JULY 2019

Transition to 2021 Tāne’s tamariki science holiday programme As part of our transition to full ownership of the stumpage income from our forest from July 2021, the Trust is looking to set up a commercial company that will oversee all our commercial interests. This holding company will be better suited to providing the necessary attention to and management control of our existing and future commercial operations than the Trust. It will also allow the Trust to focus on working more closely with owners and beneficiaries on issues such as access to the forest, nurturing the whenua, ngahere and wildlife and improving benefits. The holding company will be managed by a general manager and governed by its own set of directors, who will be accountable to Lake Taupō Forest Trust. Commercial skills, experience and leadership will be some of the important attributes that these directors will need to possess.

As part of the Lake Taupō Charitable Trust He Māhuri Toa programme (formerly the Forest Management Programme), 60 children from Tūrangi, Taupō and Taumarunui aged between 9 and 16 years attended a three-day holiday programme in Rotorua from 16 to 18 July facilitated by Scion. This school holiday science programme is a partnership between Scion (New Zealand Forest Research Institute Ltd) and the Lake Taupō Charitable Trust. The programme is designed to spark the interest of tamariki to see the natural world through the eyes of science and Mātauranga Māori. Along with 10 parent supporters, we travelled to Rotorua on the Tuesday morning, where we attended the first

(Continued on page 3)

(Continued on page 3)


Te Waa Logging A Succession Plan Les Owens has had a long history in timber. Starting out as one of the first planters in the Lake Taupō Forest in 1969, Les has worked throughout the industry, including six years at Tasman Mill, working in Lake Taupō Forest, becoming a contractor and setting up a company. ‘The Lake Taupō Forest Trust was great,’ says Les. ‘Back in the ‘80s I had plenty of experience but lacked the skill, so I had some training going with them, and I went away as a trainee to Waiariki to do training modules. Then around 1989, Waiariki wanted to keep me on as a trainer, so I was doing training at Rotorua and Murupara and came back and did some training back here – Practical Logging was the name of it. I trained my son Te Waa and a lot of the other boys here.’ In March 1993, NZ Forest Managers (NZFM) offered Les the opportunity to become a contractor, and a few months later he set up his company – Te Waa Logging. ‘The name of the company is from my koro, Te Waa, the one who brought me up here at Rongomai. He was the one who had vision, and of course you have to name one of your kids Te Waa as well. That’s what the business is all about, succession.’ The first contract with NZFM was a production thinning contract at Lake Rotoaira Forest. ‘We had to buy a skidder – $45,000 – and it was big money back then. So we started off, but we hit the bad months. It’s named Rotoaira, but for five months of the year we called it “Water-aira”. Out of 21 days available in the month to work, it would rain for 18 days, so it was a struggle. It was just through hard work, an experienced team and good systems that we got through.’ In mid-1998, NZFM encouraged Les to go into clearfelling.

THREE GENERATIONS (FROM L TO R): TE WAA OWENS, MANAWA OWENS, CHAUNCEY OWENS, LES OWENS

‘We had to go out and buy a big grapple skidder, a loader and a Bell 3-wheeler for on the skids. We had nine guys working for us then – three machine operators, three fallers and three on the skid. The fallers had to fell 30 trees a day each, which went up to 35 trees per day when we included the Bell’. His son Te Waa joined the business in September 1998 after completing his forestry training and brought some valuable safety management skills and knowledge to the company. ‘I started at Waiariki in 1991 straight after I finished school,’ says Te Waa. ‘After that, I went on another training scheme with Tūwharetoa which was being run by Steven Maniapoto based here in Tūrangi. Then in 1993, I went to Waiariki to do the NZ Certificate in Forestry which was formerly the Rangers course. You had to do it in blocks – three blocks per year over three years – which included stuff like forest engineering through to forest health or botany or whatever. Then between blocks I came back here to work in the forest. ‘Dad had always talked to me about coming back, and so did Tūwharetoa, to be part of the forestry back in our forests. Mum and Dad had always supported me in my training, including financially, and the Forest Trust paid for my tuition fees too, which made it a lot easier as I didn’t have to get a student loan. Then in 1998,

TE WAA LOGGING CREW WITH THEIR TIGERCAT SKIDDER

SEPTEMBER 2019

I was between jobs, we had just had our first child, and Dad was looking at getting into clearfelling, so I thought it would be a good time to come back.’ ‘So it is really a succession plan,’ says Les. ‘Right from the start that’s how we wanted it to be. We didn’t want it to be just me, a contractor, and that’s it. The Lake Taupō Forest Trust and the old Trustees, they were very passionate staunch about making sure that our people were up the front all the time, so you knew you had grounding behind you.’ The size of the crew has changed over the years. ‘We have been up to 19, but that was before mechanisation, which was mid-2000s, and it was a bit of a struggle. We’re down now to a more manageable number, and with mechanisation, it’s now safer for everyone. ‘We are strong about trying to employ our local people. Whether they are Tūwharetoa or not depends because we might not always have the skills we need with our people, but we always try to employ locally.’ Nowadays, Te Waa looks after most of the business, taking over management as foreman. ‘It’s always been Dad’s thought to put me in the company to look after it and grow the company so that there is something for his mokos or anyone in our family. And that’s how it is today; we’ve got my brother’s boy driving the harvester in the big crew, and my son, who has just turned 21, drives the harvester in the smaller crew. So we’ve got three generations in our business.’ ‘I’m thankful for having Te Waa here to manage all that,’ says Les. So, all those skills that he learned have really paid off for us – it’s helped our forest and it’s helped our Trust, and when I say Trust, I mean our people because the Trust belongs to the people.’ L A K E TAU P Ō F O R E S T T R U S T N E W S L E T T E R


Transition to 2021 (Continued from page 1)

It is envisaged that the holding company will be operational by July 2020 so advertising for directors is likely to happen before Christmas 2019. More information about these developments will be provided over the next few months and at the Lake Taupō Forest Trust AGM to be held in January 2020.

Trust Order review Recently, the Trust distributed to all owners voting papers on changes to the Trust Order and the introduction of a Kawenata. The result from the voting poll is that the changes were supported by a strong majority – from a total of 960 votes cast, 90.08 percent voted in favour of the changes. The next phase is for the Trust to make an application to the Māori Land Court to have the changes approved.

Trustee elections 2019 A reminder for owners that this year is the Trustee triennial election, and it is scheduled to take place in November. There are 19 eligible candidates in this year’s election vying for seven Trustee positions, so voting will be important. Voting papers and candidate information will be distributed to all owners for whom a current address is held and also posted on our website. If you haven’t yet registered with the Trust, then get registered. If you’ve changed your address, let our owners’ services staff know. Voting closes on Monday, 4 November 2019, so make sure your vote counts. You need to be registered, over 18 and have a current valid mail address to be able to vote. We encourage you to exercise your voting rights.

Lake Taupō Forest Trust AGM Note for your diaries Date: Saturday, 18 January 2020 Venue: To be confirmed

L A K E TAU P Ō F O R E S T T R U S T N E W S L E T T E R

VISITING THE REDWOOD FOREST TREEWALK

Tane’s Tamariki Science Holiday Programme (Continued from page 1)

session at Scion and learnt about tree health. We finished here at 1.15 p.m. and travelled to Te Pākira marae in Whakarewarewa for our whakatau. This was to be our home base for the next two nights. After we had settled in and got our beds ready, we were off on an adventure to the Redwood Forest where we all did the Redwood Treewalk. The kids loved it! Then it was back to the marae for pizza and chips. On day two, we were based at Te Rangihakahaka Centre for Science and Technology. Here, the kids learnt about the DNA of trees and how trees reproduce. This was incredibly interesting and kept the kids engaged and fascinated. Once our day here was finished, we headed back to Whakarewarewa for a bit of down time. We got to look around the village and learn about the thermal pools that are throughout the little settlement. This was a beautiful place, and everyone was so accommodating. Later that afternoon, our kids were shepherded onto the bus and taken into town to the movie theatre to see The Lion King which everyone seemed to enjoy. Once the movie finished, everyone piled back into the bus and headed off to Valentines for dinner, so everyone returned to the marae with a full puku. Day three saw us heading back to Scion for the final day of our programme.

The kids learnt a bit more about technologies used within the forests and how to make a water filter from natural matter. This ended up being a competition over who could produce the clearest water. After lunch, the kids went out onto the neighbouring field to run off some steam before the bus trip home to their whānau.

JA H ST I Z FL E TC H E R A N D E RAS M US H A L L E T T B U SY WO R KI N G AT S CION

We then travelled back to Tūrangi, with some very tired children and adults, dropping our Taupō kids off along the way. The feedback we received was that it was thoroughly enjoyed by all (adults included), and the majority of them would love to come back and attend our October programme. SEPTEMBER 2019


RONGOMAI PLANTING DAY SEP 2019

Building marae links Ngāti Rongomai

Rongomai marae is in the middle of a planting project to help stabilise the banks of their river, Waiotaka. Les Owens is the chair of the marae trust and helps oversee the project. ‘As we got forestry and farming coming in, then more silt from the lands and the

shingle combined to lift the bottom of the river up, which disturbed the riverbanks. ‘We decided many years ago as a hapū that we needed to talk to our kaumātua and pakeke about the land, and they weren’t happy. More from the farming side, we had a bad experience with willow growing alongside the river. Willow stakes had been used to stabilise the riverbanks, but the stakes continued to grow and ended up growing into trees and clogging the river so much; the tree canopy went from one side of the river to the other. ‘So we had to work with groups like Environment Waikato to get rid of the willow, which we did.’ The second stage involved planting alongside the river. ‘Project Tongariro came on board with us along with the community and the public, and we’d like to thank all those people who have come

together to help us establish the banks of the Waiotaka river. ‘We have these planting days, but I call it a wānanga, so we can take time to sit and talk about what we’re doing and the history. It’s funny, the environmentalists have a similar thinking to us – which makes our job easier, and they’ve helped enhance our thinking. ‘All the plants we plant are from our valley. We work with Tongariro Prison along the road – they have a nursery, and they help us take the seeds and grow the seedlings. ‘Our hapū also appreciates the grant we get from the Lake Taupō Forest Trust. It helps us with a lot of our mahi around the marae. The project has been going strong for seven years. It will probably go for another ten years yet – there is still a lot of work to be done.’

E Ora Tāne!

Pest management strategy – stage one: ngā whāinga Earlier this year, a workshop was held with 20 owners and beneficiaries as part of a two-stage process to develop a wide-ranging pest management strategy across all of the Lake Taupō Forest Trust and Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust lands, plus some other Māori land blocks in the Taupō /Tūrangi region. The workshop was facilitated by three environmental specialists – Hannah Rainforth, Cam Speedy and Nick Singers – and their report is now available. Titled E Ora Tāne, the workshop and report start at the beginning by looking at where we have come from and what we are trying to protect. Key principles underlie the development of the Pest Management Strategy including discussing values: understanding that people have different values and sometimes these values can be conflicting. Also that different species require different levels of protection, so a mosaic of pest management strategies may be required. Finally, cooperation is required with neighbours and adjacent landowners to ensure that benefits can be maximised. The report draws heavily on the contributions of workshop participants to outline whāinga or objectives and tutukinga or outcomes, which are then categorised according to how easily they can be achieved. SEPTEMBER 2019

NGĀ WHĀINGA PEST MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP

The facilitators felt privileged to be involved in the hui. ‘I think for me the thing that has stood out is how many great ideas came out of the hui,’ said Hannah Rainforth, a freshwater ecologist. ‘People are excited about having a say and are putting forward awesome ideas about how the land can be managed.’ Cam Speedy, a local pest management specialist, thought the level of engagement was outstanding. ‘People came with open minds and shared so much useful kōrero – it was humbling!’ Nick Singers is an ecologist and also a Tūrangi resident. ‘The key learning I took from the discussions related to the depth of connection and appreciation that owners have for the multiple values of the land, the plants and animals present and the cultural history and connection to these.’ (See article on Nick Singers’s conservation work in this newsletter.) More recently in September, workshop participants visited the bush with Nick

Singers and Patrick Nepia of Lake Taupō Forest Managers to compare the healthier areas of bushlife with areas that are in need of help. ‘The report should be read by all owners and beneficiaries so they can understand where their values and ideas might fit into the development of this strategy.’ Stage two of the strategy will be conducted over the next year and covers the following: • where might the different approaches be used and why? (spatial mapping); • what levels of pest control are required and where can we achieve the whainga? (outcomes); • what methods of managing pests are acceptable and where to achieve the whainga? (toolbox); • timing for pest control at different areas. The E Ora Tāne Stage One report is available to all owners and beneficiaries at the LTFT office in Tūrangi. Electronic copies can be e-mailed. L A K E TAU P Ō F O R E S T T R U S T N E W S L E T T E R


Nick Singers Conservation entrepreneur Nick Singers is an ecologist and selfdescribed ‘conservation entrepreneur’. He came to Tūrangi in 1998, initially working for the Department of Conservation helping to manage Tongariro National Park and other public conservation land. Since then, he has branched out, starting his own company in 2012, Ecological Solutions Ltd, that works with regional Councils, energy companies, tangata whenua entities, farmers and others, as well as undertaking community projects, most of which are voluntary. His first community project started ten years ago. ‘It was about 2008, and we started finding whio (blue duck) coming back on the Tongariro River. I think that was primarily because of the work that Bubs Smith had been involved in trapping in Tongariro Forest. And then we started getting young ducks turning up on the river in town, and I said to a friend, Garth Oakden who runs Tongariro River Rafting, “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to set up a predator trapline on the river.” Things moved fairly quickly, and in two weeks we had $12,500 to set up a trap network. Following that, we set up the Blue Duck Project Charitable Trust and that’s been doing predator control on the Tongariro River ever since. ‘In 2008, there were 33 ducks on the river, and now there are 150 in that protected area. It’s all due to the work of the community and Garth and all of the organisations and volunteers involved. We should also thank OSPRI for their aerial pest-control work keeping stoat numbers down in the forest bordering the river.’

Another community project Nick is working on is a restoration project with Ngāti Rongomai, which began three years ago. ‘The plan is to plant 47,000 trees along the banks of the Waiotaka River. I work principally with Les and Te Waa Owens at Ngāti Rongomai. (See Marae links article in this issue.) For that project, I work with Ngāti Rongomai and Project Tongariro providing technical guidance, and Project Tongariro provides financial management. We also have the support of Tongariro Prison, which organises the growing of the trees, and then we plant about half the trees, and they plant about half the trees and they organise all the weeding around the trees. ‘By the end of this next planting (which occurred in early September), we will have 18,000 trees in the ground, so that’s a special project.’ Nick is also involved in the development of a pest management strategy for Lake Taupō Forest Trust. Nick is one of three specialists brought in to help out on the project. The other two are Cam Speedy, who is a pest control specialist, and Hannah Rainforth, who is a freshwater ecologist and kaupapa Taiao specialist.’ My skillset is a botanist but in conservation you learn so many other skills. One of the things I’ve done is identifying value and prioritisation for conservation, and I’ve helped almost every regional council across the North Island with this and also through DOC nationally. I call it an ecosystem view.’

‘People want to be on their land and walk their land and feel their land. The trees are important, but being on the land is incredibly important too.’ ‘The report is in two stages and we’ve just completed the first stage. Hannah was responsible for driving this – we worked with a group of landowners to look at what the landowners value on their land. We considered what they

L A K E TAU P Ō F O R E S T T R U S T N E W S L E T T E R

PROFILE

NICK SINGERS

valued in the past, how they use the land today and aspirations for what they’d like to see in the future. ‘The more I work with Māori, the more I find it is all connected. Even though it’s about pests, it’s also about how we can get people to participate and visit the land, learn the tikanga of looking after the land and get some of the stories back. It’s not just about employing a contractor and doing it. It’s about the bigger picture I think Hannah has done this part really well. ‘The next stage is about going out to the bush, having a look at what healthy bush looks and sounds like and then looking at areas that are not so healthy, then developing a plan which will take into account the values of all the different landowners in Lake Taupō Forest Trust. ‘We are not rushing it – we have a year or more to work through this. The main thing that I’d like to get across is that we’re trying to create a pest management strategy that achieves the aspirations of Tūwharetoa in terms of what they want to protect but that is inclusive, i.e., it doesn’t exclude people’. ‘People want to be on their land and walk their land and feel their land. The trees are important, but being on the land is incredibly important too.’

SEPTEMBER 2019


Work opportunities

Forest access

The contractors who run silviculture (planting, pruning, thinning, etc.) or harvesting crews in our forest are often looking for new workers. Some roles require experience, others not, but all require a good attitude and reliability. If you or any of your whānau are interested in finding out more, please contact the NZFM office – forest@nzfm.co.nz – and they can put you in touch with relevant contractors if there are positions available.

Summer access hours Just a reminder that summer access hours will commence on Tuesday, 1 October: weekday access: 4.00 p.m.–11.00 p.m. weekends and public holidays: 5.00 a.m. –11.00 p.m. For more information on forest access, visit www.ltft.co.nz/access-to-forest/.

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’d really appreciate knowing their whereabouts so we can get them registered and have their monies paid. SURNAME

FIRST NAME

SURNAME

FIRST NAME

ASHER

Rangihouhiri

RAWHITI

Tutakamaiwaho

BIDDLE

Rangitowhare

RIO

Rangi

ERUETI

Maeke

SMITH

Phyllis Hana

HAWKINS

Judith Ann

TAURI

Caroline

HOHEPA

Pare Ruingarangi

TE POPO

Tamahou

HURAE

Hungahunga Richard

TE POPO

Tangatakino

HURINUI

Kataraina

TEPU

Tiripa

HURINUI

Margaret

TUMU

Wirihana

HURINUI

Teresa Hara

TUROA

Te Rangi

KEREOPA

Mark

WEREWERE

Rameka

KOHATU

Te Rauhihi

WHĀNAU TRUST

Bradnock

PHILLIPS

Hiria

WHĀNAU TRUST

Manuao Hurinui

PHILLIPS

Joseph

WHĀNAU TRUST

Rawiri and Te Okengaroa Matana Hepi

RANGITOWHARE

Timi

WHĀNAU TRUST

Tupe

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 Te Takinga New, Te Waa Logging, Lake Taupō Forest Trust and HUIA


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