New will manage Te Urewera
AFTER the settlement, the area surrounding Lake Waikaramoana will no longer be a national park or be known as Te Urewera National Park. It will be known as Te Urewera.
How the area is cared for will be decided by the Te Urewera Board, initially to be made up of four Crown and four Tuhoe members, with a Tuhoe member chairing it.
After three years, composition of the will change to three Crown and six Tuhoe. DoC will not have a position on that .
A management plan and an operational plan is required to be set up for when the new is in place early in the new year.
The management plan sets the policies under which Te Urewera will be managed and initially the will adopt the existing Te Urewera National Park Management Plan.
“It is a sound plan with a good balance between protection and use, and will serve in the one to two-year period prior to the producing its own management plan,” Tuhoe operations group manager Glenn Mitchell said.
The intention to draft a new plan will be publicly notified for submissions.
“Operational management priorities will be set by the Te Urewera , based on the management plan, and DoC and the Tuhoe-Te Uru Taumatua Trust will jointly implement the operational plan on behalf of the .”
Both DoC and the Tuhoe-Te Uru Taumatua Trust will provide funding for the Operational plan. DoC now spends about $3.7m in Te Urewera National Park.
Tuhoe chief negotiator and chairman of the Tuhoe–Te Uru Taumatua Trust (Tuhoe’s post- settlement governance entity) Tamati Kruger and trust chief executive Kirsti Luke are keen to meet with the 14 known Te Urewera user groups in the next few months as part of their intention to ensure there is always a good relationship and open dialogue.
To read the original Gisborne Herald article, click here.
