Acquiring land for the Mt Messenger bypass in Taranaki has not been plain sailing, but it has given one Taranaki iwi the opportunity to help restore a rare tract of lowland coastal forest.
Ngati Tama cut a deal, swapping 20 hectares of bush required for the new section of State Highway 3 for cash, farmland and a huge pest control programme.
As the sun rises on an icy morning at Mt Messenger - also known as Parininihi - a group clad in high-vis and safety gear gathers for karakia.
It is a scene repeated at multiple locations on site and a tangible sign of the partnership between Ngati Tama and Waka Kotahi at Te Ara o Te Ata.
Project pou tiaki Rae-Hinerau Wetere. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Project pou tiaki or cultural lead Rae-Hinerau Wetere said karakia gets the day off to the best possible start.
"We open with karakia to set good intent, to ground reset us, to come together and energise wairua really.
"We talk about the maramataka some phases can bring lower energy than others so explain that that is okay and just to be mindful of those things and not to be too hard on ourselves."
It was personal for her.
"We never wanted to feel or be an add on or tokenism. That was not going to happen. We were going to be woven into the fibre of Te Ara o Te Ata.
"It's no different to the marae when we have manuhiri or visitors at our marae we are there to host them, to look after them, take care of them. Same thing here, this is our space here."
Geovert project manager Jasper Synder said it was cool to see cultural aspects of the project brought up and refocused on every day. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Jasper Snyder was a project manager with slope stabilisation specialists Geovert..
He was onboard with the protocols.
"It's cool to see that aspect brought up and refocused every day. I don't know it puts a different light on how people behave and I haven't seen it on other contracts and it's been cool for the guys. They all seem to enjoy it."
Ngati Tama swapped the 20 hectares of settlement land for a 120 hectare farm on ancestral land at nearby Ngarautika.
It also received $7.7 million and a commitment from Waka Kotahi to pest control in perpetuity over 3650 hectares of its rohe.
Ecological contractor at Mt Messenger Sian Potier was on the look out for kiwi.
"I've been with my dog Kiekie here and Kiekie and I have swept the area to make sure there are no juvenile or kiwi chicks in the area and we've also done telemetry checks to make sure our adult monitored kiwi are well away from the works that are happening today."
Her team was monitoring 18 kiwi on the project footprint and had removed 40 eggs.
About 30 have hatched and been safely released at Parininihi away from the project site. The remainder were still being incubated.
Sian Potier and Kiekie disappear into the bush. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
The bypass had received pushback from some ecologists.
The Environmental Law Initiative challenged how the Wildlife Act was being applied at Mt Messenger - allowing for the killing of kiwi and other native species - which lead to a law change.
Potier said the overall prospects for the area were good.
"Looking at the long term picture the pest management that will be in place in the wider area will have a massive benefit for not only kiwi but all the other species in this area, so the lizards, the bats, the invertebrates and also the fresh water species."
Ecological contractor Sian Potier and her dog Kiekie swept the bridge one construction site for kiwi. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Engineer Nick Myers-Kay was in charge of bridge number one at the bypass, which was replacing the existing winding route on State Highway 3.
He was happy to wait for Kiekie.
"It's quite unique it's great to see them out there in action and keeping an eye on the kiwi for us.
"We just plan our work around them. The expectation is that they are here everyday before we start work and they do their thing and once they're out of the way it's good to go for us. It's hardly an inconvenience."
Ngāti Tama chair Hayden Wano, left, and general manager Te Amoroa Clifton at Ngarautika. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
At Ngarautika, Ngati Tama chair Hayden Wano said the decision to exchange the 20 hectares of native bush had not been an easy one.
"Like all hapū, iwi, whānau we're a broad base, we have differences of opinions, but at the end of the day most people saw the opportunities that existed no only for Ngati Tama but for the wider communities in this area and so over 80 percent of the uri of Ngati Tama voted in support of this work."
Wano said 26 uri of Ngati Tama were directly employed at Te Ara o Te Ata and the iwi had identified opportunities in the sub-contracting and biodiversity area.
"Ngati Tama has a strong history of working in this biodiversity space. We've heard about the return of the kōkako, we've heard about the return of kiwi in the area and we know the numbers are increasing and have been during the time of this work.
"So, there are some challenges in road construction, yes, but through our partnership with Waka Kotahi they have been very sensitive and open to the ideas we have in terms of protection of the environment."
Wano said it was also clear the bypass would provide better road security for everyone.
The Crown was still locked in a legal battle to acquire 11 hectares of private land required for the project on its northern side.
Once secured, Waka Kotahi believed it would take another four years to complete the six kilometre bypass.
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