(birds chirping)
So, uh, back in 1916 when our tupuna koroua Rua
the crown had actually, come in to arrest them.
There was over a thousand people, you know.
The community was thriving, it was well established,
it had its own bank, it had its own um,
its own governing structure, you know,
you know people talk about what's mana motuhake, you know.
And it's like for the people to be able to, um,
to live together, and to
live off their land or live off their land then,
then, the crown just didn't like that, you know.
There was a people in the middle of the forest
who were,
who were doing things on their own.
(low cracking sound)
(sentimental music)
(upbeat sentimental music)
(child talking)
Who's gonna do it?
So, um, the boys are just opening up one of our
possum traps, that we have.
We have, we have about 50 traps
and they've got a line in here.
And, we'll see how it goes.
Whether or not we're gonna catch something for tomorrow.
(low voices speaking)
Hello.
I'm Tait, and I, am from Wellington.
I have just opened my own cafe in town.
Well at the moment we are in Te Aro Park,
which is the park just outside my cafe.
And, what we're doing at the moment is we're trying to make
trapping, accessible to urban dwellers,
and the way we are doing that is by
introducing microlines in the CBD and in parks and walkways.
Where we can put these traps, to make it so that,
public can, if they want to express interest in
checking these traps they can do.
(loud sigh)
Me and um, a couple of mates,
started up a group called Traplordz,
just around conservation and how we can kind of
engage and educate people to get involved with conservation.
I was really privileged to grow up in a place like Seatoun.
(gentle swooshing sound)
We got brought up in the outdoors,
you know, exploring the beaches, and
going for walks around the coastline,
and playing tag and all that stuff.
Me and my two mates would be hanging out,
you know every week, going for walks on the bays and stuff
and then we would be talking a lot about how
the coastline has been deteriorating.
We were talking about it for months and months.
And then, we were getting sick of the chat,
so we decided to um, actually try and figure something out,
about how we could contribute towards it,
and get something going.
And so, that's when we came up with the idea,
of um, trying to get young people involved in conservation.
(wind blowing sound)
(melancholic music)
Yeah I'm off to Te Urewera
to go and, meet up with a local there, Atamira,
to talk about, kind of the different ways
that we're doing conservation in New Zealand.
I'm interested in the kind of the Māori view of
the environment, because it will be,
it's really good to bring that back into kind of
what we're doing down in Wellington.
(melancholic music)
Kia ora. Kia ora.
Tait.
Atamira, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, nice to meet you.
(sentimental music)
Nau mai, whakatau mai. Welcome.
Welcome Tait, to, this is my marae.
Oh cool. Maungapohatu.
Ko Maungapohatu te maunga.
So the mountain there, behind the mist and the clouds.
Yeah.
Um, is our mountain.
For me it's being able to connect, our,
our young people, our youth, back to the forest.
Then to connect them with the importance of
our role as kaitiaki.
Our role as stewards for our land.
(sentimental music)
Did you see this Tait?
Yeah, I read that before.
Yeah.
This is um, the wharenui here,
this whare is around about over here.
(sentimental music)
True. So what happened to all the,
buildings, what happened to that?
So they, they took this down.
Yeah. Yeah.
(river flowing sound)
What was that word that you were saying just before
Um, Mana...
Oh mana motuhake. Yeah, yeah yeah.
Yeah.
Um, well mana motuhake, to me anyway, it's just,
it's that,
overall, the well being,
of our people and our land.
And the environment's, kind of a major...
Yeah, and the environment is, yeah
just as important as, um,
our economic development opportunities.
Yeah. Do you think its like
responsibility of, kind of everyone to do their bit,
to help with the environment.
Yeah. It is and um,
it's that connection though you know,
like what happened with our lands,
when, um they were confiscated and taken, and--
Yeah.
The impacts for, you know, for people now,
like 150 years later, are so huge it's like,
I guess it's like taking a child away from their parent.
You know, like you're taking us away from our,
our environment, our whenua, Yeah.
Our land.
(upbeat sentimental music)
For me, kaitiaki is like,
my children you know,
how I need to look after my children.
I need to love them, care for them, protect them,
and keep them safe.
Well the same, principles apply for the whenua,
you know we need, for the land and the forest.
Globally and nationally the lack of attention and care
towards our environments,
it's quite shameful.
The big thing for us is being able to,
kind of self-sustain ourselves and not have to
Yeah. Rely on other, people to
for us to kind of, do our conservation work.
I guess that's a part of mana motuhake as well
you know, for me, in a way. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
You'd prefer to, yeah
like ourselves, we'd prefer for ourselves to,
to just do the work and... Yeah.
And not be reliant on anybody else to,
give us funds. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But actually find solutions...
Exactly, yeah. Ourselves.
What are your overall aspirations
for the work that you guys are doing in, conservation...?
I think, for me, that the work was initially to
you know, restore the area around where I live.
Which is going well but then well, you know,
looking further into it,
trying to kind of, get as much public engagement as possible
'cause from where I'm, down in Wellington it's very,
it's very urban so there's a lot, of people,
that aren't really aware.
Just I feel like there's a, kind of a generational gap of
engagement with conservation and, you know,
people my age, kind of have been missed out.
I can't go past the,
the whole wellbeing of the people and the land,
and that relationship between the two.
And having that strength or that strong connection
for our people, you know for our people from here,
from Maungapohatu, from Te Urewera.
Yeah.
Um, the connection you know, that tells us who we are,
our identity, and that being strong in the next generations.
It's way nicer waking up to,
a bird song in the morning than, nothing, I guess.
Ko te whenua, te toto o te tāngata.
The land is the blood of the people.
And, without the land, (upbeat sentimental music)
we will not survive.
(upbeat sentimental music)