September 15, 2014
Te Uri o Hau gift park to super city
Te Uri o Hau is gifting 196 hectares of the Mangawhai North Forest to the Auckland Council as a conservation reserve.
The gift, which is a similar size to Cornwall Park, includes the beach frontage, wetlands and dunes, and the Te Arai Stream.
The gift is part of an agreement that allows the hapu and its joint venture partner to build 46 house lots and a world class golf course on its remaining 420 hectares.
It clashed with conservationists because the land is next to the breeding grounds of the fairy tern, New Zealand’s most endangered bird.
Chief executive Deborah Harding says the development is already delivering environmental benefits, with the terns having their best breeding season for years because the clearing of pine trees for the golf course has reduced the cover for pests and predators like stoats, rats, hedgehogs and cats.
Hapu chair Rawson Wright says the forest was the main commercial asset returned in Te Uri o Hau’s 2002 treaty settlement, so deriving an economic return for the future benefit of the hapu is important.
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