A St Arnaud restoration project has won a stewardship award for its use of mātauranga Māori.
Tasman District Council’s Mangatāwhai/Black Valley wetland restoration project picked up the SuperSteward Award at the 2024 Local Government New Zealand conference on Friday.
The project combined traditional Māori knowledge and modern environmental engineering techniques, such as using woven harakeke baskets to plug old drains at the wetland site.
Those methods had the additional benefit of being more cost-effective than traditional engineering techniques.
Judges said the project was “a perfect example of this type of cultural collaboration and a lesson for other councils in how to work with local iwi”.
In a statement, the council said it was privileged to share the award with those who helped it succeed.
Though all of Te Tauihu’s iwi were engaged on the project, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō was the primary supporter of the project.
The council said the project had enhanced its relationship with iwi through the sharing of knowledge and tikanga.
“True partnership and engagement are about actions and connections. Especially important is the manaakitanga received from whānau in the sharing of their expertise and giving their time to the project.”
A harakeke weaving wānanga at Lake Rotoiti brought together several kairaranga (weavers) from around Te Tauihu, with 90 percent of those attending connected through whānau and whakapapa links.
The Mangatāwhai/Black Valley wetland is located just north of Lake Rotoiti and has been drained for more than a century.
“In the last two years, we have realised a dual achievement of ecological and cultural benefits in improving a wetland area.”
The effects of the work are still in their early stages and the true impacts of the restoration will only become apparent over the next decade and beyond.
Work on the hydrological restoration took place in March and involved plugging historical drains using a small excavator and, for the inaccessible drains, a helicopter.
The project was made possible by the Ministry for the Environment’s Freshwater Improvement Fund and continued on from work made by the Department of Conservation around 15 years ago.
Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
