Te Ripo O Hinemata Wetland Restoration Action Plan‏

2023 - May

Wetlands/Kūkūwai

Kia ora whanau

With all of the flooding around the motu lately, we're seeing the impact of a couple of centuries of degradation and deliberate draining of our natural water collectors and slow release mechanisms - that being our wetlands.

If we want to lessen the terrible impact to land and people, and ensure we keep the communities we have in our rohe we need to treat nature as a part of us, and not something external to extract things from.

The key action that we are focussed on in this regard is returning lands to natural wetlands - as they provide Papatūānuku with the space and room that she needs, to channel water ki uta ki tae - from the skies to the mountains, across the lands to sea.

As I've mentioned before, the sad truth is that 90% of Aotearoa's wetlands have been lost after being drained and built on, or used for agricultural purposes, mostly sheep and beef farming.

However the good news is that many wetlands hold the potential to be 'rewetted', which is what our Manawatū Kukutauaki Ngāti Hinemata whānau has been actively supporting with our planting and wetlands restoration kaupapa and programme for the past almost 30 years.

But weeds and other intrusions into our wetlands have meant that we still have a lot of mahi to go to get it returned to a natural state, but we have some mahi happening in the background that could accelerate that for us.

O2NL & Waka Kotahi Support

With the proposed new Ōtaki to North Levin (O2NL) expressway just having been confirmed, we have been working with NZTA to support the Trust, as part of their requirement to 'make-good' after construction processes have taken biodiversity and things like wetlands to build roads. Part of that is to support lands nearby to regenerate. We've been working with them over the past two years to look at this major programme.

We have just received an update from Waka Kotahi NZTA that indicates that there is considerable support for our approach to them for their wetlands restoration next stage and to invest in Te Repo o Hinemata.

They are also in the process of preparing for the next phases in the RMA process, which will entail parties mediating and conferencing, with various evidential stages and a hearing in September / October.

They will be looking to have more detailed discussions in respect of Te Repo o Hinemata with us as a whānau, Horizons, DOC and KiwiRail, which they will endeavour to get underway in more depth shortly.

Mauri ora, nā

Johnny