Environmental restoration projects helps rangatahi reconnect

A Ngāti Tawhirikura Hapū-run project is helping reconnect young people to their whakapapa while working towards a vision for the Waiwakaiho River.

“The vision is to recreate the ecological corridor from the maunga to the ocean along each side of the awa,” says project lead Dylin Bailey. “A 50-metre buffer zone on each side of the bank with native planting that will encourage the return of our taonga species such as native manu, īnanga, tuna, kōura, and kanae fish in abundance, like times of old.”

The team has already planted six sites with significance for the Hapū, with four more sites identified. Each site is assessed, and weeds are identified and eradicated before it is prepared for planting with natives. Then traplines are laid to catch rats, possums, stoats, mice, and hedgehogs as these pests have a huge impact on the native manu and taonga species.

The plants themselves come from the Hapū nursery presently located at Katere ki te Moana marae, where around 25,000 plants representing 30 different native species are propagated. There are plans to expand the nursery to more than 50,000 plants in the coming months.

The team consists of eight kaimahi, two of them permanent nurserymen, funded by the Department of Conservation’s Mahi mō te Taiao programme. Three of the team are rangatahi.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to help create a pathway for connection for rangatahi and future generations,” says Dylin. “Sometimes our young people need to find a sense of belonging, a sense of place, and when they find it, it can have a hugely positive effect on them and their whānau.”

“One of our young men found the school environment a hard one to thrive in and it was difficult for him to talk to people. Now he stands with pride and confidence reciting his pepeha and acknowledging his place in the world.”

The kaimahi undergo training and upskilling by completing courses in te reo, pest eradication, and trapping, horticulture and nursery skills, chainsaw and quad bike use, and health and safety.

Such is the positive impact on young people that the project is also involved in an initiative that builds relationships with school students so they can experience being out in nature, working to restore native environments.

“We currently have a group from Spotswood College that help out in the nursery,” says Dylin. “It’s great to give them the space and opportunity to reconnect with their awa, with the whenua, and discover their connection to te ao Māori through this mahi.”

“I am excited to see where we can go with this project – we currently have funding for three years, but the aim is to become self-sustaining with the nursery and provide plants for the entire Waiwakaiho catchment area.”