Projects
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At any one time we have a number of projects across a range
of activities. Reports on some of these projects are available
below:
An indigenous community-based monitoring system for
assessing forest health in New Zealand 2016
Environmental & Pest Issues in Te Tuawhenua 2012
Podocarp Restoration in Te Tuawhenua 2012
Industry and People Development in the Tuawhenua 2013
For an independent evaluation of the Podocarp Restoration
Project see Ministry for Primary Industries
Beau Riini, Raniera Te Kurapa and Raymond Te Kurapa of Te Urewera hapu
tagging seedlings for transplanting in the podocarp restoration programme. This
podocarp restoration site is at Otekura on Apithana T2 block, which was planted
out in the winter of 2010.
Even in decay there is life. Here a tawa tree has died and rots, but feeds different
types of fungi. The harore is a revered food of our people that grows on rotting
tawa. This is some ofour work from the Matauranga Project
Te Whare o Rehua, Te Oranga o te Ngahere July 16-19 2019
The Tuawhenua Trust is pleased to announce we will be holding our third programme for Te Whare o Rehua Academy Te Oranga o te Whenua in July 2019. Overall Te Whare o Rehua Academy is designed to reconnect our younger people to the Ngahere, through a range of means including the transfer of Matauranga o Te Tuawhenua, Te Manawa o te Ika, about the ngahere and the whenua to the next generations.
This new two-part documentary gives a rare and insightful look into our unique relationship with Te Urewera as seen through Tuawhenua’s connection with the kererū. Te Kura Huna o Te Urewera (The Hidden Treasure of Te Urewera) speaks to the revival and intergenerational transfer of Tuawhenua kawa (protocols and etiquette), tikanga (procedures and guidelines) and mātauranga (traditional knowledge) as it relates to the kererū or New Zealand pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae), which we recognise as a manu rangatira (chiefly bird species). Tuawhenua’s researcher Puke Timoti and Dr Phil Lyver of Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research worked closely over several years with the Ruatāhuna community to explore Tuawhenua’s relationship with the kererū and Te Urewera. They interviewed more than 60 kaumātua and community members over that time.
“We were very privileged to gain access to those that lived and grew up in Te Urewera and then have them recount their knowledge and experiences of the kererū openly and freely,” says Puke Timoti. “Their traditional beliefs and practices are key to how they live their lives.”
Phil Lyver says the outcomes of the research project were two-fold. “We firstly wanted to support the inter-generational transfer of mātauranga relating to the kereru within the Ruatāhuna community. “We also advocate for reforms to New Zealand’s conservation policies and governance and legal mechanisms that better prioritise the type of connection that tangata whenua want with their environments, including the nurturing of both biological and cultural heritage.”
This research is vital to us better understanding how the transfer of mātauranga (knowledge), in this case of the kererū and te mita o Tūhoe (the Tūhoe language) and the ngahere, occurs in a modern context.
“We were very privileged to gain access to those that lived and grew up in Te Urewera and then have them recount their knowledge and experiences of the kererū openly and freely,” says Puke Timoti. “Their traditional beliefs and practices are key to how they live their lives.”
Phil Lyver says the outcomes of the research project were two-fold. “We firstly wanted to support the inter-generational transfer of mātauranga relating to the kereru within the Ruatāhuna community. “We also advocate for reforms to New Zealand’s conservation policies and governance and legal mechanisms that better prioritise the type of connection that tangata whenua want with their environments, including the nurturing of both biological and cultural heritage.”
This research is vital to us better understanding how the transfer of mātauranga (knowledge), in this case of the kererū and te mita o Tūhoe (the Tūhoe language) and the ngahere, occurs in a modern context.
Te Kura Huna o Te Urewera
