Kōanga | Spring Pānui 2025
- Michaela Insley
- Jan 19
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 19
He kōrero nō te ngahuru – Spring Update
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi o te Raukūmara, tēnā koutou katoa.
As we moved through our third spring since 1080, our special forest is once again showing signs of renewal. Eyes on the ground and in the sky are witnessing life returning at an incredible rate. Its everything we dreamed of…. how lucky are we to be in the front row.
This pānui is a reflection of those eye witnessing moments and as always, the mahi speaks for itself.
LIFE
The Raukūmara is home to an incredible range of life. From the depths of the Pacific to the heart of this forest, life here is connected. Tuna travel across the ocean and return home to the rivers of this forest. Tītī, Pīpīwharauroa and Koekoeā journey vast distances, guided by the seasons back to Aotearoa. You can see that connection in the species that leave and come back time and time again, a living rhythm between the moana and ngahere.
And then there’s the critters that stay here, who act as ahikā of the forest. Wētā tucked beneath the leaves, Hotchstetter frogs weaved through the rubble, and even species like tiny forest violets scattered across the forest floor, each one part of our story of resilience.
All of this information was captured last week while our team was out monitoring - collecting eDNA, completing RTI surveys, Whio surveying, deploying cameras, and carrying out five-minute bird counts.
Te Wiki o te reo Māori
Here we are at one of our hapū in Te Whānau ā Apanui – Kauaetangohia. There was no way to prepare for a wānanga like this but to open ourselves up to be vulnerable and honest. Haimona Waititi is our very own – founder of Tūmanako consultants. His way of transforming the understanding of Te Tiriti runs deep in wānanga mode for two and a half days from 7am to sometimes 11pm depending on what’s needed. He took us through 1,000 years of our history, that’s right – we went all the way back! It was emotional, it was inspiring, it was transformative. And not one of us walked away the same person.
This wānanga wasn’t about learning a neat piece of history to file away. It was about confronting the realities in Aotearoa that have been carried for generations and the ongoing impacts that ripple through whānau, hapū and iwi to this day. Understanding these truths is not about sitting in blame. It’s about responsibility. It’s about recognising that what we do with this knowledge shapes our behaviours, decisions and leadership moving forward.
We cannot change the past. But we can decide how it informs our present.
Kāhui Taiao Turoa Symposium – Tirohanga Whānui - Tumanako nui
The three-day symposium held by Raukūmara Pae Maunga, with support from Save the Kiwi, was attended by iwi practitioners, rangatahi, and experts across the taiao sector including specialists in aerial 1080 operations, ungulate management, pest-trapping networks, biodiversity monitoring, mātauranga Māori, and climate advocacy.
$6 Million Government Investment – A Major Milestone for the Maunga
At the heart of the symposium, Minister Potaka announced a government investment of $6 million over the next three years into the Raukūmara Pae Maunga Restoration Project, that’s circa $2 million each year. Link here:
IT'S TIME FOR A STATISTICS UPDATE - WE'RE TAKING YOU INTO OUR INTENSIVELY MANAGED SITES!
Our mahi on the maunga continues to protect the precious taonga species of the Raukūmara! Over the past year, our teams have:
Established 4 Intensively Managed Sites (IMS) across 2,280 hectares
Checked over 7,500 traps along 49 km of trapping lines
Removed an incredible 2,050 pests
What is an Intensively Managed Site (IMS)?
These sites are special focus areas where our teams carry out consistent, year-round pest control and monitoring. They're easily accessible unlike having to fly into the Raukūmara, we can drive and this means our whānau and kura can visit these sites.
Our IMS locations:
Whangaparāoa
Houpoto
Mangaraukōkore
Takamore
Anaura
Here’s what our collective effort looks like:
1,065 traps deployed
1.3K rats removed
182 mustelids removed
258 possums removed
262 mice removed
38 hedgehogs removed
6 cats removed
The cool thing is, our sites are getting ready for taiao programmes and community hīkoi to wānanga in. But the important thing is to mihi to our landowners who put their trust in us to restore balance to these ecosystems.
Deer and Goat
"I haven’t seen grass growth like this in the Raukumara in years, the Mangatutara, Te Kahika and Kahoka, they’re all showing significant signs of grass growth" says aerial shooter – Caleb Wharepapa
At this time of year, rivers & streams bench systems where grass grows is usually grazed to the ground and parched from the warmer season. We have had some unseasonal rain which has supported the grass growth but we’ve taken out a considerable amountof deer since we began and it’s evident when we observe the grass growth when we’re flying overhead. How ever we are still seeing deer movement in all of these areas and so now the remaining deer have plenty of good grass to feed on.
Stags are coming into velvet and we are seeing them in their usual places, hinds are gestating and feeding to maintain their condition. We’ve clearly taken enough deer out of the ecosystem to see some positive signs of real ecosystem recovery in obvious areas, but you can still see the difference in the understory in the high-density areas - the understory has been grazed to the dirt, it’sabsolutely barren. It’s still a serious problem of grazing pressure from very high deer numbers in the Raukumara. What this tells us is there’s still plenty of mahi ahead of us.
Firearms Licence Programme – Investing in Our People
A key focus this year has been building safety with our people when it comes to operating a firearm. It’s not easy to get your firearms licence these days, and that’s totally understandable as our gun safety culture in Aotearoa is one of the best in the world. That’s why Raukūmara Pae Maunga is supporting kaimahi and our people to get the best training and support to ensure they are safe when hunting in the ngahere. We worked with Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority to carry out the training, they were awesome!
When registrations first opened, the interest was so overwhelming we had to close the list early. That alone showed us the real need for kaupapa like this across our communities.
Health and safety is something we take seriously in all aspects of our work. Being able to create a space where our people can learn, upskill, and build confidence around safe firearms practice is a huge achievement for everyone involved.
New Website Launched - Breathing life into a very special forest
I bet you didn’t notice but you will now because, we are excited to announce the launch of the new Raukūmara Pae Maunga website.
We made some big changes e hoa mā, scaled back on the repetitive wording, there was way too many tabs but not enough info there for you to really understand who we are.
Visit us online: Raukūmara Pae Maunga | Indigenous-led conservation
You can now call us on 0800 450 510
Interact with a new map that features all our mahi
More about our projects and our team
There’s even a few links to some reports you might be interested in
The coolest thing is – you can now koha to our Kaupapa using the DONATE button.
It will continue to grow as a central hub for whānau, partners and the wider public to stay informed about our mahi.
Raukūmara Pae Maunga: Five Years of Impact
The Raukūmara Pae Maunga Restoration Report 2020–2025 captures five years of iwi-led action to heal one of Aotearoa’s most significant mountain-to-sea ecosystems. Stretching across 250,000 hectares, the Raukūmara is the last contiguous forest of its scale in the North Island - a living ancestor, cultural taonga, and biodiversity stronghold for Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau-ā-Apanui.
Over this period, Raukūmara Pae Maunga has delivered restoration at an unprecedented scale. More than 117,000 hectares were treated through aerial pest control, resulting in dramatic reductions in possums and rats and immediate benefits for forest health and taonga species. Alongside this, the progroject has grown into the largest deer and goat control operation of its kind in the North Island, removing more than 12,000 animals and tackling one of the most critical threats to forest regeneration.
Equally important has been the focus on people. The kaupapa has created meaningful employment, built specialist skills, and trained local people who are all haukainga. From intensive monitoring sites and cutting-edge technology to rangatahi education, kuraengagement, and kanohi-ki-te-kanohi kōrero across the rohe, restoration has gone hand-in-hand with cultural reconnection and community leadership.
This report shows that restoring the Raukūmara is not only about protecting biodiversity, The ngahere is responding, our people are leading, and the Raukūmara is forgotten no more.
Looking Ahead
As we head toward summer, our focus remains on:
Continuing pest control and monitoring
Iwi to iwi engagements
Keeping it real with our communities
Raukūmara Week – 2026
Raukūmara art exhibition – 2026
Ensuring our kaimahi are always safe!
Thank you to our kaimahi, governance, partners and whānau for your ongoing tautoko. Every step forward is a collective achievement.
Nāku iti noa, nā Raukūmara Pae Maunga
