February 20, 2024
Ngāti Kuri testing Indigenous fire management
Northernmost iwi Ngāti Kuri is looking for Indigenous knowledge from across Tasman to learn traditional cultural practices to prevent or manage wildfires.
A group travelled to north Queensland in August to meet with the Girringun, and a group of Girringun rangers are visiting Muriwhenua in March.
Ngāti Kuri Trust Board chief executive Sheridan Waitai says the Ngāti Kuri rohe at the tip of the Aupouri Peninsula is actually a fragment of the Australian continent that broke off.
She says Ngati Kuri has a history of burning to manage fires, and seeing 60,000 years of unbroken traditional practice gives them confidence to reclaim that knowledge.
That experience in itself was really uplifting for our people to know we can rely and trust in our opwn matauranga Maori. As Indigenous people we actually do have the solutions on how to look after our forests. What we are wanting for others to get out of our way, agencies and the like , and allow usto have the space to test and trial what we believe are the right things for our forests,” Ms Waitai says.
Sheridan Waitai says the local fire service and the Department of Conservation will be invited to meet the Girringun visitors.