Te pūrongo a te tiamana | Chair’s message
Herea te whenua ki te tangata, tangata ki te whenua.
The Board has been set and accepted a tono to connect people to the land and its history through public access. This is a slow process, and does not fit neatly in an annual report. For instance, a multitude of tracks at Mahu Whenua were gazetted last year — an achievement of which we are rightly proud. But that work began ten years ago and passed through not just our hands but many other organisations and people. The pride comes not just in gazetting walkways that connect people to an iconic part of the motu, but in being part of the large team of local people and organisations that turned the initial idea into reality.
We also made significant progress in the last year on the Pūhoi to Mangawhai project — a massive network of cycling and walking trails linking Auckland and Northland. Local people in the Matakana Coast Trail Trust coordinate and lead the project, working collaboratively with Herenga ā Nuku, community organisations, local landowners, businesses and strategic partners such as Ngāti Manuhiri, Auckland Transport, and Auckland Council. Herenga ā Nuku has embedded a project manager in Auckland Council to coordinate the work.
The trail makes biking a realistic option in a highly car-dependent area. After builders complete the trail, it will create 257 jobs and an extra $96 million of tourist spending per year in Auckland and Northland. It will be a free asset that nearly 700,000 people will use each year.
And in Christchurch, Herenga ā Nuku played a key role in supporting the development of Te Ahu Pātiki in Banks Peninsula. We are helping the Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust, local rūnaka Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke and Orton Bradley Park. Together they are creating Te Ahu Pātiki, a 3-day walk from Christchurch to Hilltop, across reserves, unformed legal roads, private land, and land purchased specifically for the walkway. Te Ahu Pātiki is an incredible recreational asset for walking, biking and climbing. It is also an evocative landscape for Cantabrians, with the potential to regenerate native forests.
Herenga ā Nuku can provide invaluable support to other government agencies that deal with health, well-being, transport, recreation and economic development. It can also connect those big government agencies to people doing local volunteer work on public access.
The strength of Herenga ā Nuku is that it supports other people, organisations and groups to achieve their goals. It helps communities connect through the land, allows councils and landowners to find solutions to access issues, and helps all of us access the land that is our country.
Don Cameron