Biodiversity Strategy for the Ngāti Pahāuwera Core Area
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Biodiversity Strategy for the Ngāti Pahāuwera Core Area Adopted: 1 This strategy has been prepared by Perception Planning Limited for Ngāti Pāhauwera and the Department of Conservation. Wildlands Consultants Limited undertook the field surveys and provided technical ecological and conservation advice which was used extensively in the development of this report. 2 Contents 7. Key Management Issues ........................................... 22 7.1 Animal Pests .................................................. 22 Part I Direction and Context ............................................. 5 7.1 Plant Pests .................................................... 22 1. Vision and Purpose .................................................. 5 7.2 Other Threats ................................................ 23 2. Nga Kaupapa ......................................................... 7 8. Key Management Opportunities ................................. 23 3. Nga Whenua .......................................................... 7 8.1 Land owner / manager buy-in ............................. 23 3.1 Ecological Districts ............................................ 9 8.2 Community Initiatives ....................................... 24 4. Nga Tangata ........................................................ 10 8.3 Conservation Funding ....................................... 24 4.1 Ngāti Pāhauwera ............................................. 10 8.4 Tourism Initiatives ........................................... 25 4.2 The Department of Conservation .......................... 12 8.5 Rongoā species present ..................................... 26 4.3 Hawkes Bay Regional Council .............................. 13 Part II - The Strategy .................................................... 27 4.4 Pan Pac ........................................................ 14 9. Management Objectives: ......................................... 27 4.5 The Local Communities ..................................... 15 9.1.1 Ngāti Pāhauwera Kaitiaki ............................. 27 5. Conservation Initiatives ........................................... 15 9.1.1 Enduring Relationships ................................ 27 5.1.1 Cape to City ............................................ 16 9.1.2 Pest Free 2050.......................................... 27 5.1.2 Poutiri Ao ō Tāne ...................................... 16 9.1.3 He Tangata .............................................. 27 5.1.3 Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust .................. 17 9.1.4 Taonga Te Heru o Tūreia ............................. 28 6. Priority Sites ....................................................... 18 9.1.5 Protected Waterways and Customary Fishing ...... 28 6.1 Field Surveys ................................................. 19 10. Management Priorities ...................................... 28 6.2 Key Biodiversity and Ecological values ................... 21 10.1.1 Priority One: Research and Protect ................. 28 6.2.1 Te Heru o Tūreia ....................................... 21 3 10.1.2 Priority Two: Conservation Growth ................. 29 10.1.3 Priority Three: Sustain and Connect ................ 29 11. Management Actions ........................................ 30 Appendix One – Ecological Districts ................................... 35 Appendix Two – References ............................................ 36 Appendix Three – Landscape Scale Possum Control Project....... 36 Appendix Four – Schedule of Priority Protection Sites ............. 37 4 Part I Direction and Context land they administer as well as facilitate conservation efforts in the wider landscape. More active management of these areas will not only mean the 1. Vision and Purpose protection and enhancement of the important natural values but The vision for biodiversity protection and enhancement within the also the cultural values and associations will benefit too. The Ngāti Pāhauwera Core Area (see Figure 1) is set out as follows: cultural values associated with these sites should not be considered as separate from the natural values and any future That the important biodiversity values within the Ngāti management of these areas needs to consider this. Pāhauwera Core Area are protected and enhanced. The management of these values is led by Ngāti Pāhauwera, as These areas are owned and managed by a range of entities kaitiaki, in collaboration with the Crown and the wider including Ngāti Pāhauwera and the Crown (Department of community. Conservation). The job of protecting and enhancing these areas is in everybody’s best interests and through working together and Water quality in the lakes, rivers and streams is enhanced by an working smart, the job of looking after these areas can be done expanded network of riparian planting and important taonga more effectively. species within this area flourish and can be used in accordance with Ngāti Pāhauwera tikanga. The focus of this strategy is on the protection and enhancement of terrestrial biodiversity however the importance of the roles that Ngati Pāhauwera and the Crown will work in partnership to rivers and lakes play in this work has still be considered. The protect and manage the important natural and cultural values at protection and enhancement of biodiversity on land will lead to Te Heru o Tūreia. Which will become a place known for its high benefits to these waterways. Taking a holistic approach to the natural and cultural values respectfully enjoyed by tangata management of these areas means that resources can be shared, whenua and manuhiri alike. joint programmes can be initiated, and a wider range of funding The purpose of this plan is to set out how indigenous biodiversity opportunities can be accessed. in the Ngāti Pāhauwera core area can be managed to protect and Tangitū ki te moana enhance their important ecological and associated cultural values to achieve the stated vision. Ngāti Pāhauwera are kaitiaki of the Maungaharuru ki uta area and as such have the responsibility to ensure that the Mōhaka te awa important taonga are protected. The Department of Conservation (the Department) have a statutory responsibility to manage the Ko Ngāti Pāhauwera te iwi 5 Figure 1 Ngāti Pāhauwera Core Area 6 Mātauranga Ngāti Pāhauwera – The ancestral and traditional 2. Nga Kaupapa information and knowledge held by Ngāti Pāhauwera developed through the generations. It covers knowledge of the environment The following principles have been identified to guide the and the relationships between things; it informs practice. development and application of this strategy. The Objectives and Actions in Section 9 of the Plan have been developed to align with 3. Nga Whenua one or more of these principles. These principles are based on tikanga māori and are Ngāti The focus of the Plan is the land within the Ngāti Pāhauwera Core Pāhauwera and the Department’s expression of the most Area of interest and particularly areas of terrestrial biodiversity appropriate way to protect and enhance the important values of on crown and Ngāti Pāhauwera tribal land. This Core Area1 is the area to meet the vision. shown on Figure 1 and is 95,000 ha in size and located between the City of Napier and the town of Wairoa on the East Coast of the He whenua ora, he tangata ora – Enhancing the mana of the North Island of New Zealand. The Core Area is located wholly people by protecting and enhancing the mana of the land. within the Hawkes Bay Region and the Wairoa District. It also falls Growing the wellbeing of the local community through within Department of Conservation’s North Island Region with conservation. Healthy land, healthy people. management of this area split between the Napier and Gisborne Kotahitanga – Unity and collaboration and working with others to area offices. create enduring and more effective outcomes. The core area is largely within the Mōhaka River Catchment and to Rangatiratanga – Leading the way through action and innovation. a lesser extent, the catchment of the Waihua River to the north. Walking the talk and following through on commitments, integrity The area is dominated by the Mōhaka River valley and the and honesty. adjacent Maungaharuru Range which is composed of a plateau of Kaitiakitanga – Active guardianship of the land. Ngāti Pāhauwera sandstones, siltstones and limestones which have been uplifted, are kaitiaki of the land and its values. tilted and dissected, producing a complex landscape, steep 1 Also known as the Ngāti Pāhauwera Charter Area in the Ngāti Pāhauwera Deed of Settlement Co-Management Charter. 7 escarpments, limestone outcrops, deeply gorged streams and smaller tributaries which incise the soft sedimentary rock giving slumps in many areas. rise to the rugged landscape. In the eastern part of the area the Waihua River is the main waterway. The original vegetation has been greatly modified since human settlement of the area. Prior to human settlement, forests Most sites within the area have a strong linkage to these cloaked the whole landscape. Some (modified) forest remnants waterways. Most are either located adjacent to a river or stream remain in areas like Te Heru o Tūreia but most of the original and others form headwater areas for the smaller tributaries. In a forests have been logged or burned and cleared for farming lot of cases, however these linkages were stronger in the past and/or exotic forestry. The land now is characterised by low when the forest cover was wider. The interrelationship between intensity pastoral farming and production forestry