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Owners of the Koputara Block near Foxton intend to mark their return to the whenua by planting trees and restoring a drained lake.
Trustee Pataka Moore says Koputara was supposed to be set aside as a reserve when the surrounding land was sold in 1873, but the crown never met its promises to provide access.
In 1999 the owners got a judgment from the Maori Land Court granting them access through neighbouring farms, but it has taken 16 years to get a right of way surveyed and formed.
On Saturday members of the five affected Ngati Raukawa hapu are invited to walk the right of way and plant trees on the edge of the land and wetland.
Mr Moore, who has a background in environmental management, says most of the lake has been drained over the past century, and the trust has applied for resource consent to reestablish it.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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