TE WHAITI NUI A TOI AERIAL 1080 OPERATION

WHY THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE TO US:

• Most of the entire planned area is already serviced with a functional network of possum, predator and rodent trap lines (over $300,000 worth of traps alone!) that employs up to 15 local residents at a time. This network will be shut down for at least a year – 15 less jobs for a year in a community like ours is devastation – not just a blip in the economy. Add to this mechanisation of forestry and lay-offs associated with low dairy payouts and it spells economic disaster. We would love to see the money planned for this operation directed to a locally driven and managed industry – utilising these forest resources and improving our local economy and wellbeing. 

WE WANT WORK AND WE DON’T FEEL WE SHOULD HAVE TO DESERT OUR HOME TO DO SO.

• Data from the trap network will show trapping is effective at maintaining ecological stability and biodiversity. Users’ (hunters, gatherers, trampers, bikers, horse riders etc.) observations of flora and fauna shows it is effective. This data, however, will also clearly show the imbalance and disruption caused in predator population dynamics caused by large aerial 1080 operations in 2006 and 2012: Last summer we caught more cats in traps than had ever been imagined possible. The summer before that it was extremely high numbers of stoats. The summer before that (and up and down since) the rats were filling the traps as we reset them. The winter prior to that was 2012 when aerial 1080 was applied. Go figure – where is this data and why is it not being published for the wider community to understand the ecological implications of 1080?

THE TRAPS ARE EFFECTIVE - THE POISON CREATES ECOLOGICAL IMBALANCE. TRAPPING IS BETTER FOR THE LONG TERM HEALTH OF THE LANDS AND PEOPLE.

• This is supposed to be a TB vector control operation. Local people have collectively caught (and handled to recover the resource) hundreds of thousands of possums and tens of thousands of deer over the past decades. We have no known records of TB. It is interesting that TB Free NZ has managed to find two records of TB, both of which were collected by non-local government contractors. The people believe this is a lie.

THERE IS NO CREDIBLE EVIDENCE THAT BOVINE TB EXISTS IN THE WHIRINAKI OPERATIONAL AREA.

• Our local population is mostly Māori. One of the few remaining commonly practiced customs of traditional life available in today’s world is Manākitanga. This pretty much means unconditional giving and looking after everyone. No jobs equals no money to buy gifts as can happen in other communities. There are many things commonly given here and one of the few available resources that is legal and in the required abundance to give is meat. Removing this is equal to removing our indigenous birth rights, to depriving us of our mana. We care about the mauri of the forest, our place of being.

GIVE US THE RIGHT TO LIVE OUR WAY FOLLOWING OUR TRADITIONS ON OUR LAND

• This is also one of the last remaining open access hunting areas for the population north of here – i.e. half of the NZ population. This is also a direct attack on kiwi culture. Most people will keep a distance from the old national park area for a while thanks to media portrayals of Tuhoe and treaty settlement processes. Kaingaroa Forest is closed for most of the year. Therefore, the only public access not destined for poison based operations is the Mangawiri Basin. Hunters used to be the biggest user group, by number of visits, in the Whirinaki. Since the onset of large scale 1080 poisoning in 2006, hunter use has declined, a trend that will continue as word is spreading of more poison. Over huge areas of the park, hunters have often been  the only people that go there.  With the hunting decline has come a loss of tourism opportunities. Car-minding, transportation, accommodation and guided hunting are all activities that have diminished.

THE HUNTERS FROM THE CITIES ALSO NEED SOMEWHERE TO GO

• This is a breach of many principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, but especially that of tino rangatiratanga over our lands and resources. The Conservation Act 1987 requires the conservation department to give effect to the Treaty of Waitangi. Simple as that.

THIS IS A VIOLATION OF OUR INDIGENOUS AND HUMAN RIGHTS