A Northland iwi’s dream of creating a native tree sanctuary on ancestral land has taken a step forward with a $170,000 grant from the One Billion Trees Fund.
The pūtea will allow Ngāti Rēhia to plant 30,000 seedlings over the next two months on 34 hectares of riparian and coastal land at Tākou Bay between Kerikeri and Matauri Bay.
Forestry Minister Shane Jones says Tākou is significant as it is the resting place of one the Mataatua waka.
Some of the seedlings will be sourced from the Minginui nursery in the Bay of Plenty run by Ngāti Whare, who also whakapapa back to Mataatua.
Last year Ngāti Rēhia worked with the forestry research institute Scion to determine that the land at Tākou was free of kauri dieback disease and therefore suitable for a kauri sanctuary.
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