Working together to restore Lake Moawhitu

Alice Woodward (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kahungunu), Department of Conservation project manager Dan Moore and Lakes380 kaupapa Māori scientist Russleigh Parai (Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Toarangatira) explain some of the issues facing Lake Moawhitu and how looking to the past is helping with future aspirations.

Questions for discussion

• What are some of the issues facing Lake Moawhitu?

• What are some of the aspirations for the lake?

• How does looking back in time help with restoration?

Transcript

Alice Woodward

So the overall goal of this project is to restore Lake Moawhitu back to its original glory. It’s had a past of pastoral farming, which has meant that all of the trees have been cleared, and our aim is to restore the water quality, bring back life to the area and establish a tuna customary harvesting area again.

Dan Moore

Lake Moawhitu has become degraded through a number of things. One is that, when humans came along, we started clearing the vegetation in this catchment. And the vegetation was really important because it stopped the sediment and all the dirt flowing into the lake. Since the big woody trees have gone, there’s been a lot of sediment come down into the lake and it’s brought other things with it like phosphorus, and they’ve kicked off this bad sort of algal bloom cycle, which has meant that the lake’s less clear and we don’t get as many aquatic plants growing.

Russleigh Parai

When I think about the importance of this project, I can’t help but think of Whitikia, who was and has and continues to be the voice of the iwi, certainly guiding us towards future aspirations reminding us through her mokopuna.

Dan Moore

So the results from Lakes380’s work has been really important for the restoration work. When they took the sediment cores from the lake, it helped us get a real look back in time as to what was here in the past. And that helps us plan for the future because it helps us visualise where we want to get to.