Tūhoe is negotiating a settlement of horrific historical claims against the Crown. The key component of the settlement address is the future status of 212,000 ha contained in the Te Urewera National Park currently owned by the Crown. This land is the historic and current homelands of Tūhoe who continue to own substantial but smaller pockets of land alongside and within park boundaries.
One Tūhoe settlement objective is to have the land returned to Tūhoe ownership without encumbrances, including the removal of the current National Park status. The Crown wants to settle the historical claims of Tūhoe and is prepared to consider a change of ownership and park status. This is conditional on any future status being able to meet the needs of other stakeholders and the guarantee that conservation and bio-diversity principles and objectives currently set out in the national park legislation will continue. We believe that the Te Urewera will only improve under Tūhoe ownership together with strong collaboration with other Park user groups. View a map of the Tūhoe Area of Interest and Te Urewera National Park or click here for the agreed negotiation principles in respect to Te Urewera.
Te Urewera Park Users
There are a number of Park Users who together with Tūhoe people have contributed to the upkeep, enjoyment, preservation and use of Te Urewera. We will be meeting with these groups to gain advice and insight into areas such as: 
- Eco-tourism
- Water Quality and monitoring
- New Tracks and track maintenance
- Fire safety
- Pest control programmes
- Hunting regulations
- Animal stocking
Landcare New Zealand
Tūhoe are working with Landcare New Zealand to develop a Tūhoe Governance and Management Framework for Te Urewera. Landcare have been commissioned to study all National Parks across the world particularly those lands owned and managed by indigenous peoples to identify and list all of the components required to undertake the preservation and management of very large tracts of lands. A mini-conference is planned to collect advice and opinion from Park User groups for Tūhoe to develop a Te Urewera management plan which will include areas of capability required, finance and resourcing issues, governance and management arrangements.
The Shared Key Principles under negotiation for Te Urewera include the following:
- Te Urewera is the homeland of Tūhoe.
- We recognize the shared values relating to Tūhoe homeland/Te Urewera and the National Park, ie, iconic status; conservation; and biodiversity.
- Redress meets the strategic outcomes of both parties.
We accept the need to be guided by Tūhoe principles of mana whenua and the Crown’s principles of land ownership.