April 11, 2023
Action needed on Ōmāpere clean-up
Ngāpuhi Rūnanga chair Wane Wharerau is calling for urgent action to restore the mauri of Lake Ōmāpere.
Northland’s largest freshwater lake has been degraded by deforestation, sedimentation and farm run-off.
Previous management initiatives, such as the introduction of grass carp, have also been disastrous.
Mr Wharerau says the lake is important to all of Ngāpuhi and traditionally it is seen as a reflection of the health of the iwi.
“If it’s unhealthy then so are we as Ngāpuhi so that’s just a call to ourselves and to our community as a whole, the council, central government also to play a part in returning it close as we can to its original health,” he says.
Locals recently spent a couple of days removing dead fowl from the lake and its environs.