Te Kaahu o Tuawhenua

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E ngā pakiaka haere whenua, tēnei te tangi kōrihi a Te Tuawhenua me Manaaki Whenua ki a koutou katoa kia rarau mai ki ōna pūrongo mo te tau 2022.”

Another turbulent year in 2022 with Covid reaching Ruatāhuna and affecting staff and their whānau. We pressed on with lifting Manawa Honey out of the doldrums caused by Covid in the last two years, and with delivering projects with Manaaki Whenua and other research partners. 2022 was a year of recovery and getting things done to reposition us for the future.

This edition of Te Kaahu reports on the range of activities undertaken by the Tuawhenua Trust in the last year. Aparticular highlight was the visit for cultural exchange with the Dene First Nation of Lutsel K’e in Northwest Territories, Canada. The visit was part of our research programme with Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua on the traditional knowledge systems and the transfer of traditional knowledge to younger generations, in the past and into the future.

Tuawhenua Trust in 2022

Who’s Involved

Trustees of the Tuawhenua: Richard Tūmarae (Chair), Hekenoa Te Kurapa, Puke Tīmoti, Rangi Mātaamua, Hinerau Rameka, Brenda Tahi (Executive Trustee)

Te Kaupapa o Te Tuawhenua

The Trust is underway with its fourth strategic plan that covers 2022-24. Our long term goals remain Te Iwi me Te Whenua (developing our land and people); Kaitiakitanga (protection and enhancement of Tuawhenua ecosystems); Te Mātauranga me te Tūhonohono (Knowledge and Networks).

Key matters advanced in 2022 were:

• Completing the propagation and/or transplanting of 10,000 seedlings for enriching the Tuawhenuaforests

• Initiating a 5-yearresearch projectin traditionalknowledge systemsand transmission.

• Continuing to advance theresearch on MoreBirds in the Bush

• Anotherprogramme forTeWhareo Rehua on the starsand Maori cosmology

• Completing the second stages of building the newfood production hub.

• Contributing where we can to networks in researchand otherendeavours, locally,nationallyand overseas.

The People: Job Creation & Training

Slaine Rangiahua and Paratene Ripia continue in their field work for the research on for More Birds in the Bush. In 2022, they took up a development opportunity through a conference on Māori and biodiversity issues.

Toko White and his son Matariki took up roles to deliver on our programme for enriching our Tuawhenua forests. They

both trained in the propagation and transplanting of key forest species such as hinau and rewarewa for this programme.

Toby Moon and Tamahou Te Pou continue as our main beekeepers, joined now by JamesAmopiu who will be taking up an apprenticeship in apiculture.

Matarai Maru and Hariata Timoti joined us in 2022 in production support for Manawa Honey, whilst our satellite staff Donna Hatcher and Carol Outen continue in marketing and financial roles respectively. Karioi continues with a range of responsibilities for Manawa Honey, Te Whare o Rehua and our research.And Tania Wairama has returned to her varied role in trust administration, marketing and tourism.

Governance

The Board of Trustees welcomes Hinerau Rameka as a new trustee elected at the Trust AGM in February 2022.

Hinerau hails from Ngāti Tāwhaki of Ngāputahi and has a background in Māori land law and administration. She explains: “I have dedicated my education, career and free time to assisting Māori retain, return and utilise their whenua in accordance with their tikanga. This is my passion…”

Networking & Contribution

Our Chair Richard Tumarae continues to expand networks in Māori agribusiness, whilst Hekenoa Te Kurapa became chair for the trustees of the Ruatāhuna Farm. Brenda Tahi expanded networks in research and the honey industry, and Puke Tīmoti similarly in conservation and environmental issues.

Rangi Mātaamua became a national figurein 2022,leadingAotearoa inthe firstcelebration of Matariki as a national holiday,and sealing his recognition as an expertin Maori astronomyand cosmology.

Te Kaahu o Tuawhenua

Manawa Honey NZ

Who’s involved

Hekenoa Te Kurapa (Trustee and Beekeeping Operations); Brenda Tahi (Trustee and Marketing); Beekeeping Operations

We retrenched our beekeeping operation in 2021 due to Covid and downturn in the honey industry, so that we had a limited harvest in 2022.

We produced some rare honeys in this season including rātā and rātā blends that have superb taste.

Marketing Manawa Honey

With the challenges of Covid in 2020-21, we have focused on rebuilding Manawa Honey through export and sales on-line. We now have our honey back into Japan, and for the first time in the UK. It’s still slow beginnings that we intend to grow over time. New products brought to market in this last year were:

• Kānuka Honey, a delicious cousin to the well-known Mānuka Honey, that

Our marketing efforts have been boosted by award wins this year in New Zealand and overseas. The highlights were:

• Raw Kānuka Honey won in the Creamed Honey Category in the 11th Black Jar International Honey Tasting Contest held in Ashville, USA, to be in the top 10 for the World’s Best Tasting Honey.

• Mānuka MGO 200+ & Rewarewa won Gold atthe London HoneyAwards

• Raw Forest Honey & Lime Infusion won Gold at the NZ Artisan Awards. Our new also won Silver at

We had some great exposure during the FarmSeven alongside other activities of the

We also enjoyed giving our honey to the whanau in Ruatahuna, to our marae and various charities during the last couple of years of covid. We want to encourage our people to replace sugar with honey in their

Te Kaahu

Contact: Brenda Tahi, Executive Trustee

Certifications for Manawa Honey

This year we gained certification by B Corp and the licencing by NZ FernMark.

B Corp is simply about “businesses that do good”. Certification by B Corp is for organisations that meet the highest standards of social and environmental impact. We’ve joined only 200 companies in New Zealand that have achieved certification by B Corp. We look forward to continuing to lift our game through B Corp.

Find out more about B Corp and how we gained B Corp in our article ‘Manawa Honey NZ Gains B Corp Certification’.

We also gained our Fernmark licence in 2022. The unique licence number gives customers confidence that we have the New Zealand Government’s ‘tick of approval’ for our products in export markets.And customers know that they can trust that our products are genuinely made in New Zealand.

Beyond this, through the FernMark, we join a community of New Zealand businesses that are taking New Zealand stories to the world. So, this is not just about us, it’s about collective storytelling as a country, and we’re honoured to be part of it.

Find out more in our article Manawa Honey

Puke Tīmoti in the caribou hunt in the ’bare lands’ of the Dene people, where the caribou migrate in the fall each year. He’s using the traditional method for carrying the caribou a strap around the forehad holding the pack at the back. Puke told us later that it was exhausting work!

Te Heke ki Kānata

Who’s involved

Puke Timoti; Phil Lyver (Manaaki Whenua); Brenda Tahi; Karioi ki Tahuaroa White (Tuawhenua Trust);

In September 2022, Brenda and Karioi, along with 12 participants from other tribes joined Puke and Phil as Manaaki Whenua’s leaders of a Cultural Exchange with the Dene First Nation People of Lutsel K’e in the Northwest Territories, Canada.

Key objectives for the exchange were:

• To learn about the traditional Dene practices with regard to their way of life, their environment and their food.

• To learn about the transfer of knowledge, practice, and also the language revitalization with the younger Dene generations

• To share our relevant traditional practices and experience under

as Māori.

We spent most of the three weeks there in camp near the ‘bare lands’ or tundra, for the highlight activity of the caribou hunt during its migration season. The caribou is a traditional food the people of this region have been harvesting since the last Ice Age, and is fundamental to the Dene culture.Anumber of factors have caused a massive decline in caribou numbers over the last 20 years, and this will likely affect their cultural practices in the future.

We were privileged to learn about the Dene traditions and their environment - iconic species such as the caribou; the management of their domain, their seasons, their games, dances, ceremonies and story telling; berry picking, beading and hide preparation.

We are hoping to host a group of Dene people here in Ruatahuna later in 2023 on

Karioi White learns how to flesh and dry caribou skin from Dene elder Herman Boget. The Lutsel K’e community is successfully reviving their cultural practices for tanning and using hides, and in this respect, has inspired other communities in their region and beyond.

Matariki Ahunganui - Feast Hamper Fundraiser

proceeds from the hampers went for this fund. It’s small but we know this can grow and we have to start somewhere.

Our celebration of Matariki in 2022 centred on producing hampers for the Matariki feast which:

• Included a selection of natural and delicious home-produced foods, made with love and care by our team.

• Were sourced from our forests, our gardens and orchards, or through the traditional practice of trading using Manawa Honey.

Feasting and the sharing of food is a central element within the Matariki celebration, and this is expressed in the proverb ‘Matariki ahunga nui’ meaning ‘the great food piles of Matariki’.

We had three main objectives in our Matariki initiative. Firstly, we wanted to establish a fund for enhancing the forest and grow a fund for our forest to invest for returns to be applied to restoring and enhancing the life of our forest. All

Secondly, Matariki Ahunga Nui supports the revival of some traditions, such as the tradition of feasting as part of the celebration of the rising of Matariki and the coming New Year. For Matariki we want share hampers of special foods that reflect the stars of Matariki and the origins of food. And thirdly, we wanted to revive the tradition of trading. The food in the hamper is largely from Ruatāhuna, we also included foods that we acquired from other businesses and tribes through trading in exchange for what we have in surplus – in our case, award-winning honey by Manawa!

Overall, this initiative is not just about food and its origins. It is also about our connection to our environment, and our relationships across communities. This initiative was huge success, raising over $33,000 for our Tuawhenua Forests Fund.

Contact: Brenda Tahi

E: brenda@manawahoney.co.nz P: (07) 366 3166

Above: The food items included in the hampers mostly came from our forests and home gardens and orchards, but we also had items obtained through the traditional practice of trading.

Te Whare o Rehua

Who’s involved

Tūhoe Tuawhenua Trust: Taawi Te Kurapa, Puke Tīmoti, Rangi Mātaamua (all Tutors and Trustees), Brenda Tahi (Project Director and Trustee), Karioi ki Tahuaroa White (Project Support).

In 2022, we ran two Te Whare o Rehua programmes, quite different in content and structure.

In October 2022, we invited James Tāhae Doherty, our previous Chair, and Tuawhenua elder, to pass on his knowledge as the inaugural programme in a new series named He Kura Whāngai Ngutu by Sir Pou Temara. This involved Tahae telling the story of his people, ngahere and whenua, prompted by Brenda Tahi in a facilitator role. This programme was designed for adult generations to learn about our past way of life - nga tikanga me nga tumanako - and Te

Wao Nui ā Tāne me ōna āhuatanga katoa. It was encouraging to see teachers of younger generations attending this session, bolstering their knowledge for passing on to younger generations through the kura enviornment.

Our programme He Wai No Ruawhetu in November 2022 focused on Tūhoe beliefs and practices in astronomy and star lore with Rangi Mātāmua. This was first stage programme as we ran last year. And again, this programme focused on adult generations to fulfil at this point our objective to meet the demand for this knowledge and to reach those that are keen to cascade their learning into their whanau and communities.

Contact: Karioi White E: twor@tuawhenua.biz P: (07) 366 3166

Te Kaahu

Contact: Sarah Richardson

He Kura Whāngai Ngutu in October 2022 with Tāhae Doherty at left and Brenda Tahi at right. Knowledge brimmed out of the stories told by Tahae about his early life through to his aspirations for his homeland forests in the inaugural session for this programme. We will continue the series in future with other Tuawhenua koroua and kuia in the future. (Photo Credit: Tuawhenua Collection)

and is now well on their way in their quest for knowledge of Tūhoe practice in astronomy and star lore.

Below: Our group practising the hand actions that represent the months of the Tūhoe year with Rangi Mātāmua.

Te Kaahu o Tuawhenua

Above: Our group of participants in He Wai Nō Ruawhetū: standing from left are Tiana Temoana, Papanui Akuhata, Shairae Taepa, Serina Narelle Rangihuia; seated from left are Huirangi Law, Te Whētū Rangi, Kahu Kūtia and Rangi Mātāmua (tutor). This exciting group of participants was drawn home for this kaupapa

Manaaki Whenua Scholarship 2022

Angelica Te Kurapa was awarded the Manaaki Whenua Scholarship in 2022. This scholarship is funded by Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research and administered by the Tuawhenua Trust.

Angelica is Ngati Tāwhaki and Te Urewera through her koroua, Joseph Te Kurapa and she’s passionate about contributing to a sustainable future for our taiao. Angelica would like to be more involved with the Tuawhenua iwi and represent Tuawhenua in her areas of study as she understands the importance of Mātauranga Māori and cultural understationding in relation to science.

I discover everyday. I hope to work with the rūnanga in the future, after I graduate to help them secure a safe and sustainable future in our moana and whenua/taiao”.

In 2022, Angelica completed Year 2 in her Bachelor of Science at the University of Waikato, majoring in Aquaculture while also taking Environmental Science and Mātauranga Māori papers.

Angelica’s keen to report to the Tuawhenua on her progress in her studies and to continue to attend Tuawhenua hui with her koroua.

We’re honoured to have Angelica join the

Kia Kapi Te Waonui a Tane o Tuawhenua

Who’s involved

Tūhoe Tuawhenua Trust: Brenda Tahi, Toko White, Matariki White

Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research: Sarah Richardson Scion: Dejan Firm

This projectwas designedto enrich ourforest with particularspecies byinterplanting in areas of kaponga or scrub in ‘arrested succession’. In the earlierstages of this three-yearproject we identified the targetspecies to be hīnau, tāwari,rewarewa andmaire,and located sources of these seedlings in ourTuawhenua forests.

In 2022,we completed a programme of transplanting over8000 wild seedlings into our forest.Hundreds of otherplants have also been propagatedfrom germination orcutting, manyof which will be planted outin 2023.

10% of all plantings arebeing monitored for growth overtime.To datethe earlierplantings from 2021 have had a high survival rate,which we have putdown to the caretaken byToko and MatarikiWhitein choosing and transplanting the seedlings.

Wehave found thatseedlings up to only30 cmin heighttransplantbest,and releasing andmulching the transplantsite areimportant factorsin survival.Wealso found that rewarewa was relatively easy for transplanting and germination buttawari and hinau,and particularlymaire,arechallenging.

The projecthas also delivered a Forest ManagementStrategythatwill guide us all that we do in the futurein TuawhenuaForests.

Contact: Brenda Tahi, Executive Trustee E: brenda@tuawhenua.biz P: 07 3663 166

Rewarewa seedlings from the wild are placed in planting boxes for ease of transport in the bush and storage overnight before planting out in new sites in the forest where we want to overcome arrested succession.

Above: Tāwari seedlings are rarely found in our forests and they are really challenging to transplant. Instead we have focused in this project on the propagation of tāwari by germination and cuttings. Below: Some of the plants from our project were used for plantings by our local hapū at their marae. Here, Matariki White is planting out for a project at Tātāhoata Marae.

Manaaki Whenua as a Te Tiriti Partner

Manaaki Whenua is exploring what it means to be a good Te Tiriti partner. In 2021 the board issued a Statement of Commmitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, endorsing the principles of Partnership, Participation and Active Protection when working with kaitiaki Māori. Our organisational strategy – Te Āpōpōtanga - now offers researchers a new model for a Te Tiriti-led approach in science. Called He Waka Taurua (see graphic below), the model uses two waka, Māori and Tauiwi, lashed together to acheive a shared aspiration but each respecting the other’s right to go in different directions, as appropriate, based on their own tikanga. Our own Shaun Awatere had a hand in developing this model.

Te Āpōpōtanga also reminds us that, in order for the Treaty relationship to be honourable, Manaaki Whenua as a Crown agency needs to acknolwedge tino rangatiratanga as a legitimate Māori aspiration that we should support.

We’ve launched a bi-cultural learning and development framework – Kia Māia – which includes Te Tiriti education programmes and cultural awareness workshops for our researchers. It includes a platform “Being Manuhiri

Alison Greenaway developed in collaboration with Te Uru Taumatua, to remind Tangata Tiriti of the need to conduct oneself respectfully as manuhiri when working with Tangata Whenua.

We have appointed three new kaihautū positions, Māori research leaders, and put in place a new expectation that portfolio leaders will co-develop their research strategies in partnership with these kaihautū. And we’ve formed a Te Tiriti Partnership Group to oversee development and implementation of a Te Tiriti led Strategic Plan for our Collections and Databases. This work includes the recruitment of a “kaitūhonohono” or connector position, with the specific purpose of helping connect kaitaiki to their taonga held in our biological collections.

We’re still learning as we go about how to be a good Te Tiriti partner, but we’re now clearer about the principles that underpin respectful Te Tiriti-led partnerships with kaitiaki.

Contact: Holden Hohaia E: HohaiaH@landcareresearch.co.nz P: (04) 382 6647

More Birds in the Bush Research

Who’s involved

Tūhoe Tuawhenua Trust: Brenda Tahi, Slaine Rangiahua and Paratēne Ripia

Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research: Adrian Monks, Jo Carpenter, Phil Lyver, Susan Walker

Auckland University: Bruce Burns, Oscar Clendon

Manaaki Whenua and the “More Birds in the Bush” research program have partnered with the Tūhoe Tuawhenua Trust on several research projects linked to restoring kererū in Tuawhenua forests. Informed by Tuawhenua mātauranga we established two field projects and the data have been pouring in.

The first field project aims to understand the role of rats and possums on the availability of kai (particularly fruit) for kererū. While we know something about the combined effect of possums and rats on fruit crops, we don’t know the effect of having one or the other. This is important because while possums are relatively easy to control for long periods of time, ship rats are not and will often bounce back within months to even higher numbers than previous, following combined rat and possum control.

For the first two years of the project, Slaine Rangiahua collected seedfall from 240 seed traps every month from different areas in Te Tuawhenua to see how much fruit and flowers were produced when both rats and possums are unmanaged. We target toromiro fruit particularly because it is an important kai for fattening kererū, so many of our traps are set up beneath the trees to capture its fruit.

In the same vicinity, other traps capture tawa, hinau, and other plants to understand what other kai are available and when.

During this period, we also monitored the abundance of possums and rats in these areas.

Now, for the last year Slaine Rangiahua and Paratēne Ripia have been carrying out pest control in these areas using bait stations, cyanide, and traps. Some areas just target possums, others target rats, some target both species, and some have no pest control.

Despite how small the targeted areas are (25 ha each), the pest control has been remarkably successful. Slaine and Paratēne have trapped over a thousand possums!

At the end of the study, we should understand which of these actions (possum control, rat control, or both species controlled) leads to the biggest increases in the availability of kai for kererū.

Above: A kererū eating a tawa fruit. Tawa is a key food source that we suspect is being depleted by introduced pests such as possums and rats. Photo credit: Oscar Clendon

The second field project aims to understand why the quality and quantity of tawa fruit have declined in Tuawhenua forests over the last half century, as observed by Tuawhenua kaumātua and forest users. Could this be due to climate change? We first needed to understand how climate conditions affect tawa fruit quality and crop size across the whole of Aotearoa. When we understand what climatic variables influence tawa fruit, we can assess how those may have changed over time in the Tuawhenua forests.

Auckland University Masters student Oscar Clendon has crunched the data from the national seed rain database, which contains records of tawa and other tree species seed that has fallen into seed traps at several sites across Aotearoa. By lining up the seed rain with climate variables from each site, Oscar has determined that tawa has larger

crops when winters are cold and there is more rainfall in the summer. Over the past century, Tuawhenua has experienced progressively warmer winters and summers, as well as less rainfall in the last ten years. When we predicted how these changes would affect tawa crop size, the model showed that tawa seedfall would have been much higher between 1910 and 1950, compared to seedfall crops over the past 70 years. This result demonstrates that the warmer climate Tuawhenua now experiences have impaired tawa crops to some extent, although other factors (e.g. possum browse) are also likely to be important.

Contact: Jo Carpenter

E: carpenterj@landcareresearch.co.nz P: (03) 4707214

Above left: A chew card used for monitoring possum abundance on the research blocks. This card has been chewed by possums. Photo Credit: Puke Timoti

Above right: An inked tracking card using for monitoring rodent abundance on the research blocks. This card has rat tracks on it. Photo Credit: Puke Timoti

Tracking shifts

Who’s involved

He Mātai i te Taiao:

in the intergenerational perceptions of biodiversity?

Phil Lyver, Puke Timoti, Andrew Gormley and Sarah Richardson (Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research)

Losing the understanding of historical environmental conditions of different species abundances threatens how new generations perceive and feel about the state of their natural environments, how they make decisions, when and what actions to take. The inter-generational shift in perceptions of the environment is a phenomenon frequently termed, shifting ecological baseline syndrome.

In this study we looked at how people score environmental indicators or tohu for understanding the size, density or abundance of forest resources using ordinal scores (e.g., none, few, some, many, heaps,

a lot) and numerical estimates associated with each of those scores (e.g. numerical estimates of population size). We then looked at the relationships according to people’s age, and the rate that this shift was occurring for each indicator.

The relationships between the ordinal scores and quantitative estimates for six forest indicators provided by community members were consistent. Meaning numerical estimates for ordinal scores like ‘none’ or ‘few’ were generally lower than for scores like ‘many’ or ‘heaps.’ However, there we age-related differences in how people from different age groups provided numerical estimates for different ordinal scores.

For example, kaumātua provided much lower estimates of distances walked along a riverbank between seeing a tuna in the river

Figure 1. Age-related differences in how the abundance of tuna was scored by community members

Contact: Sarah Richardson

when they referred to there being ‘quite a few’ or ‘plentiful’ tuna, than those from younger generations. In fact, there was 30% decrease in estimates of the distance walked along a riverbank between observations of a tuna for any given ordinal score for each decadal increase in age (Fig 1).

Similarly, kaumātua provided much higher estimates for flock sizes of kererū when they referred to there being ‘a lot’ or ‘countless’ birds, than those from younger generations. In fact, there was 15% increase in flock size for any given ordinal score for each decadal increase in age.

How the community thought about scores was also interesting. When estimating the size of tuna, many people provided reference to anatomical appendages (e.g., thickness of finger(s), wrist, forearm, calf or thigh) or household items (e.g., 2L coke

bottle, 900g milo tin, dog sausage, inflated car tyre inner tube, camp oven) of similar girth to reflect the size of the tuna (Fig 2).

Support for on-the-land learning and continuation of customary practices and observations that encourage interaction with plants, animals, insects and the environment, offer opportunities for mana whenua to connect with kaumātua and to their environments will help mitigate the potential negative effects of changing perceptions of te mōmongatanga o te taiao and Te Wao-nui-a-Tāne.

Contact: Sarah Richardson

We need to remember how productive our natural environments really were in Aotearoa to guide us in our restoration of those systems.

Contact: Puke Timoti

E: TimotiP@landcareresearch.co.nz P: (027) 278 1765

Figure 2. A range of items are used to estimate the girth of a tuna.

Te Kaahu

Pest Eradication Research

Who’s involved

Mahuru Wilcox; Puke Timoti (Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research); Brenda Tahi, Slaine Rangiahua (Tuawhenua Trust)

Our wananga in August 2022 for this project took us back to some basics regarding pest eradication. We identified key pests to target for control where we can, and assessed available methods for pest control. We also identified aspects of our species we want to protect from pests that can be used to inform ideal timing or methods for pest control.

Whilst these discussions proved fruitful, we’re left with a major frustration in the field of pest eradication - there is currently no technology that can assist us to eradicate pests in our forests at reasonable cost, across our landscape, that is not 1080. Furthermore, sadly and astoundingly in a country battered by pest impacts, no research institute in New Zealand is addressing this issue. We urge the science and research institutes of New Zealand to get on with finding a way

to deal with pests on a landscape scale as we are now seeing horrendous impacts in our forests and throughout Te Urewera from pest infestation.

Meanwhile, Manaaki Whenua’s Eradication Science team is working on field trials of new technologies for pest control, including sound lures. They have been studying the behaviour of possums with regard to unique traits that make them difficult to catch either with traps or using baits. So far they have had some very interesting results so we are watching this space!

Contact: Sarah Richardson

The Te Tira Whakamaataki event was held in Taranaki in June, and the project supported two attendees from Tuawhenua. The symposium was focused on Māori biosecurity and pest control, and was a great opportunity to network and to hear about pest control underway projects with a number of iwi around the country.

Contact: Mahuru Wilcox

E: WilcoxM@landcareresearch.co.nz

P: (07) 859 3726

As you can see from this photo, red deer reached epidemic proportions in their numbers back in the 1950s, despite government culling programmes. We fear that in 2022, they are well on their way to reaching these population levels again. Photo Credit: NZGeo.

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Te Kaahu o Tuawhenua

Honey Landscape Project

Who’s involved

Gary Houliston; Sarah Richardson (Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research); Brenda Tahi (Tuawhenua Trust)

The Honey Landscape MBIE programme is in the final wrap up stage, and we have finally cracked the delivery of a lot of information on nectar and pollen production via an online tool that can be used by our stakeholders. This tool incorporates modelling of nectar and pollen (as well as honeydew) production across Aotearoa based on a considerable amount of data compiled from a wide range of sources.

Users can toggle nectar and pollen production and zoom in and out on an interactive map that plots the volumes of nectar and pollen throughout the months of the year. This is to allow beekeepers to explore the possible apiary sites available to them and to get an indication as to the production potential of a particular area. We also hope that this will be adopted for decision making around land concessions for beekeeping on the conservation estate,

An image from the Honey Landscape online tool showing nectar flow in January

and eventually for the development of better regulation around “boundary riding” issues in the industry. The online tool can be found at: https://mwlr.nz/honey-landscape-lowres Or, the hi-res version for when you are on a good connection.

Other workstreams in the programme continue beyond the contract, such as the ongoing research with the University of Waikato on Rewarewa honey, led by Dr Merilyn Manley-Harris. Merilyn will continue this work in her upcoming retirement, and we look forward to further exciting developments there.

Dr Stevie Noe (Tuhoe) who was a PhD student funded by the MBIE programme has now taken on a full time research position with Manaaki Whenua, in the Ecosystems and conservation team. We look forward to Stevie having an ongoing relationship with the Tuhoe Tuawhenua Trust via this role.

Contact: Gary Houliston E: HoulistonG@landcareresearch.co.nz P: +64 3321 9667

Te Kaahu o Tuawhenua

Contact: Sarah Richardson