Noho tahanga a Papatūānuku kia whakakorowai i ai ia
Papatūānuku (the Earth Mother) lays bare; we must recloak her
Keita Ngata (Ngāti Porou)
An interactive online map: Post-pine-harvest native regenerating forest
Senior researcher Dr Suzanne Lambie leads He Ngahere, He Korowai, a project focused on resilient landscapes on highly erosion-prone whenua Māori (Māori land) for future generations.
"Our life-giving soils are being eroded. With every storm event, more of the land is washed into streams and rivers, compromising the whenua’s ability to support communities," says Suzanne.
"Our future native forests will be vital for the protection of highly erosion prone land and facilitation of the next generations aspirations.
"The work in He Ngahere He Korowai has progressed well, and we have gathered the first glimpse of what post-pine-harvest native regenerating forest looks like. We have established nine plots across study sites in the North Island, from Northland to the Manawatu regions. The sites have a range of weed and pest animal pressures including the usual suspects (pampas, gorse, deer, and pigs).
"We will compare the post-pine native tree diversity with native tree diversity under a range of pine tree densities to test the relationship between pre- and post-harvest native diversity. We will also estimate the carbon accrual in our post-harvest native regenerating forests, with species-specific scaling where possible.
"We identified that the current frameworks for valuing native forests were considered a barrier by mana whenua, being solely carbon focused. Our future work will include working with mana whenua to build a holistic framework for determining what a successful native forest restoration looks like. This will highlight the key indicators for restoration outcomes and provide on-the-ground accessible assessments integrating mātauranga Māori and other scientific measures."
