NPDC, Ngā Mahanga a Tairi and Ngāti Te Whiti have drafted a management plan for the wider Paritūtū reserve area to improve its environment, biodiversity and visitor experience.
Status: Closed
Feedback closed: Saturday 14 October 2023
The project partners want to reconnect the community and mana whenua with the reserve and also restore the whenua, which has a rich cultural history.
Please have a read through our draft management plan and send in your feedback.
All of our reserves are operated under a management plan and have to be reviewed regularly.
This reserve has significant historical and cultural links with mana whenua. Through hapū and NPDC working in partnership, and alongside DOC and Taranaki Regional Council, we have an opportunity to develop a meaningful long-term perspective that will have positive outcomes for the environment and birdlife, and also restore relationships between the land and hapū/community.
Our goal is to have safe areas for birds to nest so that their populations will grow – about 20 species of birds are known to visit and breed in the area. That could mean keeping people off Paritutu Rock during the six months up to late January by providing other areas for them to visit in the reserve.
To balance this, we would enhance the entire reserve so there would be other areas for visitors to explore and enjoy. Once breeding season was over, people would be able to climb the rock again – and during what is typically our most settled period of weather.
We would be enhancing the entire reserve so there would be other areas for visitors to explore and enjoy. Once breeding season was over, people would be able to climb the rock again – and during what is typically our most settled period of weather.
Our goal is to have safe areas for birds to nest so that their populations will grow – about 20 species of birds are known to visit and breed in the area. We want to have a conversation with the community about how we can achieve that. Do we keep people off Paritūtū Rock during nesting season? Are there other options we can consider?
The proposed new name has been gifted by hapū as a way to start reconnecting our community with the reserve’s history and the kaitiaki role of mana whenua.
The rising water level of ponds due to rainfall.
This comes from the wetlands at the south of the reserve, their living ecosystems and their relationships with mana whenua ancestors. One of our proposals is to protect and enhance these important wetlands.
This is to ensure public safety around the eroding cliff-edge and that sensitive areas are avoided. We want to ensure the public access remains while also enhancing the birdlife and plant-life in the reserve.
In 2013, NPDC gifted the Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protection Area to central government for use in treaty settlements with Te Atiawa (in 2014) and Taranaki (in 2015) iwi. We propose to explore ways to return ownership of Paritutu to mana whenua as part of the long-term management partnership of this area, recognising the long history that they have with this land.
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Page last updated: 11:55pm Sat 14 October 2023