Working with its elders and other traditional knowledge holders, the Māori community of Ruatāhuna, New Zealand, has articulated its own, culturally relevant system for monitoring the health of the ancient Te Urewera temperate rainforest it calls home. For instance, the community regards the size of flocks of kererū or wood pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) as a key indicator of forest health, and assesses it by the amount of awe an observer...

Deep in New Zealand’s vast Te Urewera forest, which is famously endowed with a legal personality, the Māori community in Ruatāhuna is working to restore and sustain its forests and way of life. Having regained control of their land after decades of logging by outside interests, members of the Tūhoe community are trying to bring back conifers in the Podocarpaceae family, which they refer to as the chiefs of the family of Tāne, the god...

Te Urewera This area may not have created an official bilingual status, but as with many things in Te Urewera, it doesn't need to tell others about it, it just is. The isolation of Te Urewera has ensured it's a real-life Wakanda as depicted in the Black Panther movie — a bastion of indigenous life. The people of Tūhoe have a different Māori language story from other iwi, largely retaining their native tongue through this...

I owe the people of Tūhoe an apology. I have trouble pronouncing Māori words properly, and back in 2010 did a woeful job on Te Urewera - or as I called it on air, 'U-re-wear-raz'. I can't even begin to describe in writing how mangled this came out, but it undermined the credibility of the important story I was trying to tell. It was disrespectful to Tūhoe and I regret it to this day. I apologise for that. Like many Kiwis,...

Camaraderie and common sense saw an estimated 1000 cubic metres of slip material with at least half covering the main Lake Waikaremoana road, safely removed by Quality Roading and Services last month. Read...

 After four days without food, a trouser-less man with severe hypothermia was rescued by the Greenlea Rescue Helicopter yesterday and thanked them with a song.   The helicopter was dispatched to the Urewera Ranges to an active locator beacon yesterday.   The ranges were misty and cloudy and there was reduced visibility but a man was spotted, just before 4pm, in a clearing near a hut about 150m from the...