Tū Mai Taonga

Please go to www.tumaitaonga.nz for more information. 

For further enquiry, please contact Kate Waterhouse as Chair of the Aotea Great Barrier Environmental Trust, via kate@wollemi.nz, or Makere Jenner, Programme Lead, via contact@tumaitaonga.nz.

Tū Mai Taonga Project

Tū Mai Taonga is a collaborative project which aims to restore biodiversity in the Aotea Conservation Park and adjoining areas in the centre and north of Aotea, by combining the effort and resources of many groups for a shared purpose.

It is a collaboration between Ngāti Rehua Ngātiwai ki Aotea, the community of Aotea, the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Aotea Conservation Park Advisory Committee, Auckland Council, Aotea Great Barrier Environmental Trust, Aotea’s sanctuaries, conservation projects and private landowners. 

Tū Mai Taonga can be translated as standing up for our precious treasures, and represents a collective vision for “Te Oranga o te Ngahere”, a healthy forest and ecosystem. It is hoped that by reducing the major predators on Aotea — feral cats and rats, we can protect taonga like pāteke, black petrel and chevron skink, and support the eventual return of lost species. These include burrowing seabirds, kōkako, korimako/bellbird, tīeke/saddleback and more.

To achieve this, Tū Mai Taonga hopes to reduce feral cats to zero or very low numbers in the project area, and explore ways to reduce rats to low densities— with the long term goal of removing them from the whole of Aotea. This is because of the damage feral cats and rats are doing to wildlife (flora and fauna) across all habitats and ecosystems on Aotea. Local employment and skill building in animal pest control, monitoring and restoration are also very important outcomes. 

The project has secured funding from PF2050 Ltd. and the Department of Conservation’s Job’s for Nature fund, as well as Auckland Council.  Community research in the project area showed high levels of support in late 2020 and an interim steering committee supported the establishment of a small programme team and a partnership with mana whenua. The trust facilitated this process and then acted as the interim project entity in order to secure funding and allow the programme to operate in the establishment and feasibility stage in 2021 and 2022. From December 2021 the project came under the leadership of the new Ngāti Rehua Ngātiwai ki Aotea trust, supported by a Tū Mai Taonga subcommittee which governs the programme. Transition to NRNWKA Trust was formally completed at the end of 2022.