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This Generation of Kaitiaki
Continuing the whānau legacy, Whetu Apaapa and his brothers have dedicated their lives to the Kaimai.
Continuing the whānau legacy, Whetu Apaapa and his brothers have dedicated their lives to the Kaimai.
The manu (birds) chirp louder and louder as the Ngā Mata Hiringa kaimahi (workers) follow the trapline deeper and deeper into the ngahere (forest).
“They’re not happy,” says operations manager Whetu Apaapa (Ngāti Hinerangi, Raukawa, Tainui, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Terangi, Ngāti Pukenga), “let’s wrap it up”.
They quickly finish re-baiting the rat trap and turn around, heading back to their base at Waitaia lodge.
For a normal job, you might get a slap on the wrist for finishing early but for Whetu and his tīma (team), it’s encouraged as their intrinsic Mātauranga Māori (knowledge) and listening to the needs of the ngahere guides their kaupapa (approach).
“Mātauranga is part of everything we do,” says the 29-year-old.
“Being Māori, it’s just natural. If I’m out in the ngahere, it’s about following your intuition – thinking without outside influence. We start the day, tīmatanga (commence), with a karakia (prayer) and when we move through the ngahere we respect the rākau (trees)”.
Pest-control projects, like this one, require a lot of interference with the rākau through ‘line cutting’ – cutting or trimming down any flora to make an easy track for workers to access their traps – and even nailing traps directly onto trees.
Some teams would simply follow the plan –cutting the lines and putting the traps exactly where the paper tells you but for Ngā Mata Hiringa, the plan is a guide. The tīma refuse to cut into rākau they don’t know.
“If you don’t know the name of something, don’t cut it. You have to respect its whakapapa (history),” Whetu explains.
“We’re pretty particular about what rākau we put them [traps and signs] on. We try to keep away from big rimu and big totara. We usually try and attach traps to mid-sized rākau that are in abundance. For us, that’s manono”.
“I’m proud of him and the team. It’s cold in winter and stifling in summer. You have to love the mahi or you won’t last. But, the quality of their work speaks for itself. We’re getting good results – predators are coming down, traps and kills are up, and we’re starting to see restoration of our taonga species such as kōkako.”
It makes the work take longer, but Whetu says it’s worth it as nailing into a tree is like cutting into an arm.
“Any cut is creating an open wound. We avoid big trees as we don’t want to introduce any bacteria into it. I wouldn’t want to damage a 200-year-old rimu just to chuck a $200 trap on it,” he laughs.
Ngā Mata Hiringa is the name of Ngamanawa Inc’s predator control project, which was launched in 2021 with funding from Jobs for Nature. A ground-based team of five, along with the wider Ngamanawa team, are working to restore the mauri (life force) of a 2000 hectare block of Opuiaki and Waitaia forest and its catchments. Te Ao Māori (the Māori worldview) is central to their approach, and most of the team whakapapa to the land they’re working on.
Ngamanawa general manager, Dave Nuku (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Hangarau, Ngāti Motai), says Whetu has a quiet confidence that reassures the team, even on the toughest days.
“In this kind of business, when your teams are out in the bush, you need people who are reliable and trustworthy,” he says.
“I’m proud of him and the team. It’s cold in winter and stifling in summer. You have to love the mahi or you won’t last. But, the quality of their work speaks for itself. We’re getting good results – predators are coming down, traps and kills are up, and we’re starting to see restoration of our taonga species such as kōkako.”
In Māori myth, the kōkako filled its wattles, the blue area around its throat, with water and brought it to Maui as he fought the sun. Maui rewarded the manu by making its legs long and slender, enabling it to bound easily through the forest.
The kōkako is a seed spreader, helping to regenerate the understorey, and an indicator species – when they are well and in abundance, the forest is well.
In the 2023 Opuiaki Kōkako Survey by Amanda Rogers and Dave Bryden, prepared for Te Papa Atawhai Department of Conservation, 23 pairs and 8 territorial singles were recorded, a continued increase from 19 pairs and 6 singles in the 2021 survey, and 10 pairs and 11 singles in 2019.
Ngamanawa plan to build on these results for years to come, they want their whenua to be loud with bird song. However, like most conservation mahi in Aotearoa, it’s currently dependent on shrinking government and philanthropic funding.
“We have co-funding now [from TECT and BayTrust] but this work needs to be done over generations. We’re working with Manaaki Kaimai Mamaku Trust to unlock additional funding, or investment streams, to continue our project.
“With the right commercial support, we might be able to achieve our vision,” Dave says.
While Whetu spends his weekdays hiking through the Opuiaki ngahere with a backpack full of bait and tools, his passion for te taiao (the natural world) started at home in Okauia, a small settlement outside of Matamata.
He credits his career to his Aunty Honey, who he has fond memories of sitting with as she shared kōrero (stories) about their tupuna (ancestors).
“Aunty Honey, Carol Ngeira, she was our pou (the pillar) at home (Okauia). She was very loving, very tou – very calm, peaceful. She was our kōhanga teacher, our bible studies teacher, she was like a mother to us all – all the naughty kids up the road!”
She would tell Whetu and his four brothers about their tupuna and whakapapa to the sacred maunga they all lived under, passing down the knowledge she received from kaumatua and kuia (elders). However, like much of Māori land in Aotearoa, much of this whenua is in private ownership. Until she passed of cancer, she fought to get the Te Weraiti maunga (mountain) back, legally.
“She instilled the love for te taiao in us all. She was very vocal about the impacts of private ownership and the quarry operations.”
The maunga, although in private ownership, is bordered by QEII covenanted land, which in layman’s terms means it will be forever protected from destruction.
Zipporah Ploeg, QEII Taupo and Central Waikato Regional Rep, says that an area’s biodiversity, landscape, cultural or historical values can be protected with a covenant.
“It’s all for our rangatahi, we want them to experience what we do. I want them to go up into the ngahere and hear the manu, they should be able to identify different rongoa (medicinal plants), different taonga.”
“If a place has a particular mauri, or a particular connection to someone, then the covenant protects that and can never be undone. QEII, along with the landowner and any future landowners, has an ongoing responsibility to ensure the area is protected forever and we will work to uphold the protection if that’s ever threatened.”
Now, three of the five Apaapa brothers dedicate their lives to the Kaimai, continuing Aunty Honey’s legacy.
Te Ao o te Rangi, the eldest, holds all the whānau records and is leading the fight to get their land back. He also works at Landcare Trust and one of his many projects is creating an ecological corridor between Pirongia, Maungatautari and the Kaimai, to help manu fly between the three forests. This will help expand the DNA pool and increase numbers.
Amorangi, the youngest of the five, recently left his job in outdoor education to join Whetu at Ngā Mata Hiringa. Dave, their manager, says he fits like a glove, and that brotherly connection is something you can’t manufacture.
When they’re not working, or with their respective whānau, the Apaapa brothers share their knowledge through wānanga at the Tangata Marae. Named after a bioluminescent limpet discovered in the Pūtangi Stream, the Karanga a te Pūtangi kaupapa aims to help their iwi build connections to the whenua.
Everything the brothers do is for future generations.
“It’s all for our rangatahi,” says Whetu.
“We want them to experience what we do. I want them to go up into the ngahere and hear the manu, they should be able to identify different rongoa (medicinal plants), different taonga…
“It’s the first time that some of these kids have even gone to their whenua, and they are excited about it!”
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Words by Rebecca Lee of Manaaki Kaimai Mamaku Trust
Photography by Cam Neate
