Saving the Raukūmara

DOING THE MAHI: Raukūmara Pae Maunga kaimahi on the heli pad in Waingakia which is one of the project’s monitoring sites.

Raukūmara Pae Maunga restoration project is three years into operation and the 1080 application has started. Kaupapa Maori reporter Matai O’Connor spoke to the team to learn more about what is going on . . .

The biggest aerial 1080 operation in the history of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand is under way as part of the Raukūmara Pae Maunga restoration project.

Raukūmara Pae Maunga is the largest Indigenous conservation project in the world, led by East Coast iwi Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, partnered with Te Papa Atawhai Department of Conservation (DoC) which received funding of $34 million for it in 2020 from the Jobs for Nature Programme.

Over the last three years the team have been working to get ungulate culling and trapping up and running, which includes a lot of training, while preparing for the 1080 application.

The Raukūmara is home to rare species such as kāka, kiwi, whio, pekapeka/bats and the Hochstetter’s frog, but in the past few decades these have been devastated by stoats, rats and possums.

Deer have been eating bark on trees as the understorey has been completely eaten away. Eating the tree’s bark is a death sentence for the tree.

The team have been running Raukūmara Roadshows around the East Coast and meeting with land owners and communities to share what they are doing, and have opened kōrero on any concerns.

The ungulate programme has culled about 5000 deer and goat.

Over 120,000 hectares of ngahere (forest) in the Raukūmara Ranges will have the 1080 pest control toxin dropped on it.

The first block was applied about a month ago, on the Te Whānau-ā-Apanui side, and in a week’s time the second block, which is between both Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Ngāti Porou rohe will be applied.

This includes the western side of Hikurangi Maunga as they decided not to do it over the whole maunga as there are too many catchments coming from it.

The third block, which sits in the Ngāti Porou rohe will be applied in a few months.

After block three is done, that concludes the 1080 operations of Raukūmara Pae Maunga. Each drop depends on the weather.

The whole 1080 operation encompasses a big chunk of public conservation land and also part of non-public conservation land such as station owners.

People do have concerns about the use of 1080 and the team from Raukūmara Pae Maunga are aware of this and open to talk about it.

The poison 1080 is a copy of sodium fluoroacetate — a naturally-occurring compound found in plants. Some plants, including puha, produce it to deter animals from eating them.

Research shows the longest time elements of 1080 can stay in a plant is around 38 days. It is biodegradable which means it breaks down naturally in the environment.

The Ministry of Health has set a stringent guideline that 1080 can only be present at levels below 2 parts per billion. These are extremely low levels — an adult weighing 70kg would have to drink 70,000 litres (or 230 full baths) in one go to receive a fatal dose.

Meanwhile, other countries also have rules around its use. In the USA, it is restricted to use in livestock collars to protect sheep and cattle from coyotes, and in Europe its use is banned.

Te Papa Atawhai Department of Conservation Eastern North Island director, Jade King-Hazel, says they have always been transparent that 1080 is one of the tools available for use in restoring the Raukūmara Ranges.

“I know that a lot of our whānau are on a journey and it’s a mixed bag of feelings about 1080,” King-Hazel said.

The Raukūmara Pae Maunga team acknowledge 1080’s use was huge for communities and some whānau were

onboard with its use and others were not, she said.

“When we are talking about 1080, what we are talking about is that it’s just one of the tools and we have to utilise it because the ngahere is in a distressed state and for a long time resources haven’t gone into the Raukūmara. And this is what happens when it’s not looked after properly,” King-Hazel said.

Block 1 had 1080 applied about a month ago after rescheduling the drop from December 2022 as the weather was not good and they did not want to do it during the holiday period.

“To use 1080 you have to work through consultation — notifying communities. There are a lot of legal requirements to meet before you use 1080. We have done door-knocking, had hapū meetings, roadshows, kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) engagement, used social media, Radio Ngāti Porou and newspapers to share what we are doing,” she said.

Since the first drop, people have been posting up on social media about finding possum carcases washed up in waterways and on beaches.

“We have the biggest response crew I have ever seen around 1080 out there. They are going daily to beaches and up awa to collect and clear any carcases because we know they are a risk to whānau,” King-Hazel said.

Over 500 possum carcases had already been collected from riverbeds and off beaches between Ōmāio and Tirohanga in Te Whānau-ā-Apanui rohe, Raukūmara Pae Maunga communications and engagement manager Rangitahi Wharepapa said.

“When it rains, more carcases can wash down. We want people to know not to go near the carcases and warn them not let their dogs go near them either,” she said.

Wharepapa said from this drop they had learned from the carcases being found.

“We have a dedicated carcase hotline now. We have in-depth signs on beaches and near awa. Our website also has heaps of information and is regularly updated. We encourage people to sign up to the newsletter to get up to date info.”

King-Hazel said it was sad that 10 dogs from Te Whānau-ā-Apanui rohe had passed away due to scavenging and finding carcases.

“We have been in touch with families whose kurī have passed away. We want people to know to look after their dogs. Let us know you have dogs — 1080 is terrible for dogs,” King-Hazel said.

“It’s not easy — we are talking about families who have a strong relationship with their kurī.”

She said they met whānau face to face and offered support.

If anyone found a carcase they should call the team on either of the two hot-lines. For Ngāti Porou rohe call 027 370 0851 and for Te Whānau-ā-Apanui rohe call 027 370 4356.

This week there have been Raukūmara Roadshows at several East Coast communities to share their kōrero about what is going on and answer any questions.

Ario Rewi has been running the Ngāti Porou rohe side of operations. On Thursday night there was a hui in Ruatorea.

The roadshows offer an interactive opportunity to see what is being used in Raukūmara and what is involved.

“This is the third lot of roadshows. We encourage our whānau to go to them. We have had a couple of anti-1080 people show up and that’s great — its not a problem. We encourage them to come to kōrero with us. We need to be open and transparent about this process,” Wharepapa said.

“Even those that are anti-1080, they care about their whenua, that’s why they come,” King-Hazel said.

Wharepapa said: “We have had whānau who have contributed and voiced their views on 1080 and our kaimahi have responded in a really grateful way. We are grateful they want to sit with us and share with us their kōrero — their ‘why’. If they can front up to uswith that, that’s great — rather than talking on social media and not interacting with us.”

King-Hazel said they needed to understand the different points of view and were open to it.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into why 1080 is used, such as not having the ability to traverse the landscape of the Raukūmara Ranges,” King-Hazel said.

“We have a responsibility to Raukūmara to make sure Raukūmara is here for years to come. As humans we depend on the resources that come from her. When you see the damage in the ngahere, you realise we need to take action. These are the tools we have to do that.

“We could get trappers out? Well, we are getting them out. We have ground-based trapping being undertaken. But can we do that across the whole Raukūmara? No, we can’t, because it’s not safe. The reality is we don’t have stacks of humans to live out and climb those hills — some aren’t even climbable,” King-Hazel said.

“What we can demonstrate is that we are trying everything. We are not settled that it’s just 1080. We are trying ground-based control, aerial culling, self resetting traps — we are giving it all a good go. And as soon as another option comes along we are up to looking at that. But until that happens, we have to be realists and 1080 is one of the tools that actually makes a difference.”

Along with the 1080 drops, overall Raukūmara Pae Maunga mahi had been progressing well, King-Hazel said.

They would have a full contingent of 41 kaimahi and have stood up Aotearoa’s largest ungulate programme, which was driven by Māori communities, she said.

“The exciting thing is most are based at places on the East Coast. The Te Kaha, Ruatorea and Te Araroa bases are up and running,” she said.

Many of those in these roles are from Ngāti Porou or Te Whānau-ā-Apanui.

Following the 1080 drops, plans are in place to monitor the waterways and ngahere to show the results.

The goal is to one day reintroduce native species and also use it as an education space for kura and community to experience the Raukūmara Ranges first-hand.

To keep up to date with what’s going on with the Raukūmara Pae Maunga restoration project and find out more information go to www.raukūmara.org.nz