Photo: Supplied
Paritūtū maunga could eventually be returned to Māori ownership under a proposed revamp of a popular New Plymouth reserve. Hapū have been leading an overhaul of the reserve management plan, emphasising Māori values in the future of Paritūtū Centennial Park.
The draft New Plymouth District Council plan encompasses the remnant volcano Paritūtū maunga, the coastal park above Back Beach, the Herekawe Stream reserves and Ngā Motu (Sugar Loaf Islands). The draft includes a proposal to explore how to "return the ownership of Paritūtū to mana whenua," perhaps through a Local Bill in Parliament.
It is a turnaround after the Crown - despite decades of Māori objections - in 1938 vested the reserve in the council, which later named it Paritūtū Centennial Park to recognise 100 years of Pākehā settlement.
NPDC's planning and design lead Renee Davies told this week's council meeting the hapū Ngā Mahanga a Tāiri and Ngāti Te Whiti were asked to take the lead in working out how to manage the park.
"It was a mana whenua led process, so we gave lot of autonomy for mana whenua to go away and work with their communities to develop initial ideas and thoughts and then we came together and worked on that."
The resulting draft co-management plan vision is "ko te oranga o te whenua, ko te oranga o te tangata the wellbeing of the environment is the wellbeing of the people."
"The way it's presented through a te ao Māori approach has elevated [those] values to a level that weren't perhaps able to be done in western wording and policy-making," Davies said.
Ngā Mahanga a Tāiri hapū representative Tāne Manukonga said protecting the land came first, including the multiple wetlands, streams and urupā in the reserves.
"We're really setting the bar here in terms of what good consultation looks like, what good cultural informing looks like, and … you start preserving those indicated points first."
Ngāti Te Whiti chairperson Julie Healy said the two hapū were able to accurately identify wāhi tapu for protection.
"Not only on the physical side but it's also on the spiritual side, healing the loss that our tūpuna suffered through confiscation."
"It's all about reconnecting and taking back the mana, because our tūpuna would have felt that they'd lost so much."
Councillor Dinnie Moeahu thanked staff for improving consultation with mana whenua.
"That relationship building with council has elevated not only our capabilities but also our capacity to make good decisions."
Councillor Sam Bennett said it was a prime exempt of working together.
"Whether you want to call it co-management, co-design, co-governance for me this is what it means. We have nothing to be scared by working in the te ao Māori world and this is a wonderful outcome."
Under the draft plan the park would be renamed Te Pukenga, echoing the name originally given to the reserve, Paritūtū Te Pukenga Tāpui. Restoring that name and others for places within the park would be decided by the council's iwi committee Te Huinga Taumatua.
NPDC owns the 68-hectare coastline park while the iwi trusts Te Kāhui o Taranaki and Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa own the offshore islands. The Department of Conservation administers the islands and marine reserve, and Taranaki Regional Council also has obligations including as owner of neighbouring Port Taranaki.
The proposed plan would see a gradual restoration of the area from grazing to a lowland coastal forest environment using seed from nearby bush remnants. Repo (wetlands) would also be restored and talks are underway with oil and gas company OMV to include two rare semi-coastal dune lakes on its nearby land which is already QEII covenanted. Planting would include cultural considerations such as fibre (such as raupō and harakeke) and rongoā (medicinal plants).
"This allows Te Pukenga to be a place where wananga can be had and varying cultural practices will be carried out once again on this whenua," according to the draft plan.
Interpretative signage is a priority to "elevate the cultural and conservation learnings … to encourage reverence and understanding of the unique natural environment".
An educational and wānanga facility is also proposed. The existing track to the summit of Paritūtū would be maintained but other "experiences" would be encouraged rather than a focus on climbing to the summit, "thus providing for potential 'rest' moments for the maunga".
It is expected the draft plan will go out for public consultation for two months from mid-August, before a final plan comes back to councillors.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air