West Coast hapū Ngāti Waewae today unveiled a pou whenua for the Mōkihinui addition to the Kahurangi National Park.
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says the pou whenua near Seddonville acknowledges the role of the hapū as mana whenua and its role as kaitiaki.
She says the 64,400 hectares of conservation land in the Mōkihinui River catchment added to the park in April is highly significant to Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Waewae.
It contains a combination of geology, landforms, riverine habitat, vegetation, animal and plant life not found elsewhere.
The land was added to the park after a long battle by iwi and conservationists against a proposal to build a hydroelectric dam that would have flooded the Mōkihinui Gorge and inundated beech-podocarp forests and significant habitats of threatened plants and wildlife such as whio/blue duck, kaka, bats and giant land snails.
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