News

Ngā mihi Fletcher Steel!

Article by Libby Young

Donation of Reo Stakes and Warratahs from Fletcher Steel’s Mike Mulligan to Lois Bishop from the Hokonui Tramping Club.

The team at the Hokonui Rūnanga are constantly amazed at the generosity and goodwill of the people and organisations in our community. An excellent example of this is Fletcher Steel, who has kindly donated over 250 Reo Stakes and 250 Warratahs to assist the Hokonui Tramping Club and the Hokonui Rūnanga with their pest control efforts in Haumuri (Croydon Bush). With these materials, our traps will be safer to operate and easier to handle.

Haumuri reserve is 874 hectares containing cycle trails, campgrounds, botanical gardens, and walking tracks. Haumuri is considered culturally significant to the Hokonui Rūnanga as it is home to many indigenous species and to the tributary headwaters to Au Nui Pihapiha Kanakana (Mataura Falls). In the past, predators such as possums, rats, and mustelids have killed many indigenous species and have severely damaged vegetation. However, this has been reduced considerably due to the trapping efforts of the wider community.

Map of Haumuri (Croydon Bush) trapping lines.Mike Mulligan loading Reo Stakes and Warratahs.

The Hokonui Tramping Club has been operating trapping lines in Croydon Bush for over 12 years. In that time, they have caught over 2500 pests, including over 1000 rats, almost 800 Mustelids, 400 hedgehogs, and 200 possums. Last year alone, they managed to catch over 200 pests. If these efforts weren’t impressive enough, this mahi is entirely voluntary, driven by a passion and appreciation for the local environment. However, there is no denying that more work is still needed to restore this habitat to a biodiversity-rich area.

Eighteen months ago, the Hokonui Tramping Club partnered with the Hokonui Rūnanga and their work became a part of our wider Hokonui Hills Biodiversity Project. The four main objectives of this project are the restoration of habitats and vegetation, to see mahinga kai and rongōa species flourish, the protection and return of taonga and lost species, and to share intergenerational knowledge which enables the full expression of kaitiakitanga.

Fletcher Steel recognised this hard work and believed in the vision of the project. Their donationDelivery of the goods to the Hokonui Rūnanga Taiao team. will have a huge impact on the volunteer’s ability to function. The waratahs and reo stakes allow our volunteers to rebar the traps stationary to the ground. This means issues with trap interference and vandalism will be removed, and the traps will be easier and safer for our volunteers to operate.

The combined efforts from both Fletcher Steel and the Hokonui Tramping club are excellent examples of how the community can come together to help each to accomplish incredible things.

Posted: 10 November 2022

Ngā mihi Fletcher Steel!

Article by Libby Young

Donation of Reo Stakes and Warratahs from Fletcher Steel’s Mike Mulligan to Lois Bishop from the Hokonui Tramping Club.

The team at the Hokonui Rūnanga are constantly amazed at the generosity and goodwill of the people and organisations in our community. An excellent example of this is Fletcher Steel, who has kindly donated over 250 Reo Stakes and 250 Warratahs to assist the Hokonui Tramping Club and the Hokonui Rūnanga with their pest control efforts in Haumuri (Croydon Bush). With these materials, our traps will be safer to operate and easier to handle.

Haumuri reserve is 874 hectares containing cycle trails, campgrounds, botanical gardens, and walking tracks. Haumuri is considered culturally significant to the Hokonui Rūnanga as it is home to many indigenous species and to the tributary headwaters to Au Nui Pihapiha Kanakana (Mataura Falls). In the past, predators such as possums, rats, and mustelids have killed many indigenous species and have severely damaged vegetation. However, this has been reduced considerably due to the trapping efforts of the wider community.

Map of Haumuri (Croydon Bush) trapping lines.

The Hokonui Tramping Club has been operating trapping lines in Croydon Bush for over 12 years. In that time, they have caught over 2500 pests, including over 1000 rats, almost 800 Mustelids, 400 hedgehogs, and 200 possums. Last year alone, they managed to catch over 200 pests. If these efforts weren’t impressive enMike Mulligan loading Reo Stakes and Warratahs.ough, this mahi is entirely voluntary, driven by a passion and appreciation for the local environment. However, there is no denying that more work is still needed to restore this habitat to a biodiversity-rich area.

Eighteen months ago, the Hokonui Tramping Club partnered with the Hokonui Rūnanga and their work became a part of our wider Hokonui Hills Biodiversity Project. The four main objectives of this project are the restoration of habitats and vegetation, Delivery of the goods to the Hokonui Rūnanga Taiao team.to see mahinga kai and rongōa species flourish, the protection and return of taonga and lost species, and to share intergenerational knowledge which enables the full expression of kaitiakitanga.

Fletcher Steel recognised this hard work and believed in the vision of the project. Their donation will have a huge impact on the volunteer’s ability to function. The waratahs and reo stakes allow our volunteers to rebar the traps stationary to the ground. This means issues with trap interference and vandalism will be removed, and the traps will be easier and safer for our volunteers to operate.

The combined efforts from both Fletcher Steel and the Hokonui Tramping club are excellent examples of how the community can come together to help each to accomplish incredible things.

Posted: 10 November 2022

Murihiku Upoko briefing to new Mayors

On Wednesday 9 November, Tā Tipene O’Regan, Michael Skerrett and Terry Nicholas met for an informal briefing with three of the newly elected Southland/Murihiku Mayors on the Murihiku Regeneration priorities and work programmes. Also in attendance were Arihia Bennett, Chief Executive Officer of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu; and Mervyn English, Ivan Hodgetts and Mike Shatford from Murihiku Regeneration.

It was agreed that this is the first of regular governance level hui between the Mayoral Forum and the Office of Upoko.

The discussion represented a strong sense of connection, commitment and alignment around priorities and focus for the Murihiku community in the coming months.The inaugural governance level hui between the Office of Upoko and Mayoral Forum was held on Wednesday 9 November 2022.

Posted: 10 November 2022

Visible work commenced by NZAS at the SCL pad

NZAS / Rio Tinto have commenced some work at Tiwai Point that will be visible to residents in Bluff over the next two weeks.A small excavator was craned onto the SCL pad recently to aid in SCL sampling.

Work is being done at the spent cell liner (SCL) pad on the southern side of the smelter site. The work will involve adding small structures to the top of the SCL pad and using a small excavator to remove some SCL for testing purposes. An excavator will be sitting on top of the SCL pad as a result, making it more visible.

This work is part of a suite of activity being undertaken in relation to managing and ultimately removing SCL from site. This work is important to help inform future work programmes for remediation and waste management.

The purpose of this sampling is to better understand the composition of this material to inform processing options. Outside of the small amount of SCL removed for testing, no other SCL is proposed to be moved from the SCL pad.

It is likely to be several years before NZAS are in a position to commence excavation and processing of the material, however this sampling is an important first step in planning for the future work.

Posted: 27 October 2022

Network established to provide voice on health care in Hokonui

Article by Louisa Steyl. Published in Stuff.

The Hokonui region has become one of two places on the South Island to trial what healthcare may look like under the health reforms.

The Hokonui Localities Rōpū will now be “knocking on doors” and talking to residents about their health and wellbeing priorities, so they can help Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora decide how services will be delivered in the region.

Essentially, representatives from nine different bodies will be telling Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora how and where it needs to be spending money, based on what they hear from the community.

Hokonui Rūnanaga Kaitoko Mātauranga Jo Brand said, most people from Hokonui would recognise someone around the table – whether it be from a sports club or in a professional setting.

The group – made up of the Community Health Council, the Community Networking Trust, Gore District Council, Gore Health, Gore Medical Centre, Hokonui Rūnanaga, Regional Public Service, Te Hau o Te Ora, Partnered Primary Care Services, and Time for Change – Te Hurihanga – signed a charter agreement on Wednesday, outlining how they would work together.

Brand said while phrases like “locality networks” didn’t mean much to the public at this stage, the important thing to know was that they would be asked questions in the coming months about what they needed to be healthy and well.

Te Hau o Te Ora service manager Anna Gaitt said that while leaders could presume that might be access to a GP, for example, what people may say they need is food on the table when the breadwinner in their family is going through cancer treatment.

“It’s about what wellness means to you.”

Gore Health chief executive Karl Metzler said he was excited to be working with a wide range of agencies to get involved with the social determinants of health.

“Gore Health is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, but it’s exciting to work on building a fence at the top of the cliff,” he said, adding that it would be important to also look at how success would be measured.

Metzler said he was proud to be a part of one of the first 12 locality networks in the country but noted that it built of already strong and mature networks in Eastern Southland.

The group had proposed to trial the locality prototype based on the health partnerships already established in the area – most notably, Te Hau o Te Ora: a joint venture between WellSouth and iwi.

“This isn’t like we’re setting something up from scratch,” Metzler said.

Community Health Council representative Bronnie Grant said she was expecting access to services to be a recurring theme in feedback from residents, but hoped that the engagement process would help the team narrow down which services should be prioritised.

“You can’t fix everything all at once.”

Because the team would be looking at wellbeing in a broader sense, she expected to hear concerns about the cost of living, dental care and the implications of limited access, and attendance rates at school.

Te Whatu Ora national localities team co-director Kylie Ormrod said all Kiwis would be covered by a locality network by July 2024 and these geographic groups were expected to deliver a plan for their individual areas by July 2025.

Plans will be tweaked and assessed over time to make sure they’re responsive to the community’s needs, she said.

In the meantime, Health New Zealand was building a digital hub and giving network groups access to data and analytics tools.

Work was also under way to develop a guiding document explaining what locality networks were, Ormrod said.

Posted: 25 October 2022