‘Devastating in all ways’: Sand dune ecosystems on Tokerau Beach being destroyed by vehicles

Hapū members from Te Whānau Moana me Te Rorohuri work to protect sand dunes from vehicles. Photo / Victoria Lelo Kapa-Kingi

By RNZ

Thrillseekers causing significant damage to dunes on the Far North’s Tokerau Beach have forced the kaitiaki rōpū to install temporary fences and block access points.

As many people head off to the beaches for summer, a group from hapū Te Whānau Moana me Te Rorohuri are trying to educate those who drive on the beach and in the dunes.

Kaitiaki Victoria Lelo Kapa-Kingi told Saturday Morning the behaviour was “really dangerous”.

“I think the best way to describe the behaviour is, I think it comes from a place of thrill-seeking,” Lelo Kapa-Kingi said.

“We’re seeing motorised vehicles destroying our dunes, really. They’re being driven all through our dune ecosystems on our beaches, not just two-wheel motorised vehicles but four-wheels as well, doing donuts up and down our beach.”

Lelo Kapa-Kingi said the small kaitiaki rōpū (guardian group) was looking after 18km of shoreline and dune ecosystems – and seeing vehicles destroy shell life, kaimoana, pipi beds and tuatua.

“In our dune systems, we have our coastal birds who lay, they have their nesting sites throughout our dunes, we have our skinks, our gecko, our katipō which also live through our dunes, we have a multitude of native plant life that are being destroyed as well.

“They’re all being basically ripped up through the tyres going through our dune systems. It’s devastating in all ways.”

Not only was there native flora and fauna throughout, but there were several wāhi tapu (sacred sites) all throughout the dune systems.

With an influx of manuhiri (visitors) and whānau coming to the area for the summer period, Lelo Kapa-Kingi said they were fencing and blocking all entrances to the beach to protect the dunes and all that was in them.

She said the group had had a positive response to the work they had done so far. Some were unsure, giving them the opportunity to educate them, while some had already cut fences and driven through the barriers.

But Lelo Kapa-Kingi said it wasn’t the first time they have had to reinstall fencing “and we will continue to do so”.

“As someone who lives in Whatuwhiwhi and is on the ground every day, I am very picky and choosy about when I take my tamariki to the beach.

“We do what we can to influence, to educate, but at the end of the day, if there’s reckless behaviour on our beaches, we need to choose safer wāhi (places) for our tamariki to enjoy, to live, to be their best tamariki selves and unfortunately, at this time, the behaviour on Tokerau is not supporting that.”

Lelo Kapa-Kingi said they had received funding from Northland Regional Council and were working on creating kaitiaki coastal toolkits in the hopes of passing their learnings for dune protection on to other coastal hapū and iwi.

But at Tokerau Beach, the group would be looking to weed and hold community wānanga (discussion) in the new year to get everyone on board and replant.

The goal was to plant 5000 new plants into the dune ecosystem and replace what had been destroyed.