May 21, 2017
Te Urewera plan set to change conservation practice
Conservation Minister Maggie Barry says a plan for Te Urewera will change the face of conservation in New Zealand.
Te Urewera Board has invited public submissions on its draft Te Kawa o Te Urewera, which sets out the principles that will guide the setting of annual priorities statements and operational management plans under Te Urewera Act.
Under the Tuhoe settlement, the former Te Urewera National Park was given its own legal identity and management became the responsibility of a board consisting of Tuhoe and crown representatives.
Speaking at a media conference with board chair Tamati Kruger, Ms Barry said Te Kawa is likely to affect the way conservation boards around the country approach their work.
She said it’s a document not just for Ngai Tuhoe but for others who use Te Urewera.
"Reconnecting people with nature that as something as the Minister of Conservation I'm very focused on. And the work that you (Ngai Tuhoe) are doing, I think will be groundbreaking in making and raising a level of awareness around New Zealanders who love the idea of our landscapes and our nature and our birds and our precious taonga species but, don't necessarily feel that they have a role or a responsibility in helping to be a part of protection and that respect for nature," she says.
Maggie Barry says people are not the masters of nature but its servants.
The closing date for submissions on Te Kawa o Te Urewera is July 20.
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