Restoration of mahika kai at Te Kōawa
View of the Takitimu maunga from Te Kōawa lodge. Photo © Sandra Cook
A mahika kai restoration project is gathering momentum at Te Waiau Mahika Kai Trust’s property “Te Kōawa Tūroa o Takitimu” located on Blackmount-Redcliff Road in the Jericho Valley.
Taramea (Aciphylla aurea) is a taonga species to Ngāi Tahu. It occurs naturally at Te Kōawa. Photo © Vanessa Horwell
The Te Kōawa Mahinga Kai Restoration Project aims to enhance and restore mahika kai (traditional food and resource gathering) at Te Kōawa, primarily for the benefit of Ngāi Tahu whānui. The 445 ha property is nestled beneath the impressive Takitimu maunga and is culturally significant to Ngāi Tahu.
The site-wide restoration will recreate a biodiversity corridor from the Takitimu Conservation Area down the valley towards Fiordland National Park. This holistic project incorporates Ngāi Tahu’s “Ki uta ki tai” - “from mountains to sea approach” to restoration, and will restore a wide range of habitats to encourage indigenous species back to the site.
Te Waiau Mahika Kai Trust is continuing the mahi (work) done by Ōraka-Aparima Rūnaka, and previous kaitiaki at the site over the last two decades. This mahi will realize the vision set out by Aunty Jane and the other founders of the Trust, and more recently of Sandra Cook, of restoring the valley and waterways for all Ngāi Tahu whānui, reconnecting tangata whenua back to the land and achieving intergenerational transfer of knowledge on mātauranga Māori and mahika kai. The Restoration Plan builds on and updates the original “Jericho Restoration Plan” published in 2001.
Funding from Meridian Energy and Te Ao Marama Inc (TAMI) will allow the Trust to develop a network of tracks through the regenerating bush to provide access for the restoration. A road up the valley will be recut to allow whānau to access the Takitimu maunga from the Te Kōawa Lodge.
The TAMI Fund will also be used to implement the first stage of pest and weed control at the site, and to plant native species around the lodge that are important for mahika kai and rongoā (traditional Māori medicine). In years to come these will be able to be used by visitors, or whānau staying at the lodge, and will encourage manu (birds) around the Lodge.
Pest control is targeted at pigs, deer, mustelids, rats and possums. Reducing these pests down to low levels will allow native manu to breed successfully and vegetation to recover from browsing animals and disturbance.
The edible berries of the kahikatea tree are known as koroī and were gathered by Māori in great quantities. The other parts of the tree are also used for rongoā Māori. Photo © Jon Sullivan
A large scale planting project is underway with funding from Trees that Count and Environment Southland’s Environmental Enhancement Fund. 4200 trees will be planted this year. This is just the beginning - the pest and weed control will be rolled out across the 445 ha site, and thousands more natives will be planted over the coming years to recreate forest assemblies, riparian margins, and wetland areas that would have previously been present in this valley. These will provide a valuable food resource for native manu, who will then spread the seeds and accelerate the impressive natural regeneration happening in the valley.
Roadside native plantings from 2021
The project encompasses education as well, and the Trust will work with local Rūnaka to host wānanga (workshops and conferences) at Te Kōawa on a range of cultural kaupapa.
The Trust is partnering with Meridian Energy on a Carbon Forest project on the South East terrace. This involves native afforestation, as well as a block where exotics would initially be planted to get carbon credits, but the forest would transition to native trees over the course of 50-60 years. Registration of existing regeneration will also be investigated. The project is seen as win-win for the Trust as it will manage a serious weed problem and accelerate what would otherwise be a slow natural regeneration process on the SE terrace, while at the same time establishing a long-term revenue stream for the Trust to fund ongoing pest control and other biodiversity enhancement work.
Please check out our Te Kōawa Mahinga Kai Restoration Plan for further details.
Te Kōawa Tūroa o Takitimu and the Takitimu maunga. There has been significant natural regeneration since the land was retired from grazing several years ago. Photo © Stellar Studios Ltd