A recipe for success

Forest and Bird, Volume 20, Issue 3, 1 August 1989, Page 15

A recipe for success

By

Christine Smith

The Manawatu is the location for a project designed to protect two important and vulnerable cultural plants: pingao and kakaho. Pingao is used for tukutuku (decorative panels) work and kete (basket making). Kakaho is used for thatching and the base to which tukutuku is attached. Both plants are coastal and in danger through indiscriminate harvesting, off-road vehicle recreation and invasion by competing imports such as marram grass. The Corps members will be involved in surveying, recommending rahui, propagating and planting pingao and kakaho. On the West Coast, the department and the Te Tai Poutini Polytechnic are jointly responsible for 20 corps members. The members will regularly meet for residential courses but for much of the time will be split into small groups up and down the Coast. They will receive work-based training, often individually in a variety of agencies and environments. In groups of 6-8 they will also work on local community projects. Some of the planned community projects include planting kowhai in the Hokitika riverbed, eradication of Clematis vitalba in the Buller and Arahura Rivers, grafting kiekie, and identifying poru and hinau resources to ensure protection of high quality dye materials for traditional use.