Visiting WaipouaTāne Mahuta and Kauri Walks rāhui
Te Roroa, with support from the Department of Conservation Kauri Coast District Office, would like to inform our whanau, the general public of Aotearoa New Zealand and international travelers that a rāhui will be placed over Tāne Mahuta boardwalk and the Kauri Walks pathway in Waipoua Forest while we as a nation are at Alert Level 4 during the Covid-19 pandemic. This will go into effect at 5:00pm today, Wednesday 25th March 2020 after karakia at site. Te Roroa considers the protection of kauri within Waipoua as an essential service, so wish to advise the following measures we will be enforcing to support this unprecedented decision: • With support from the Department of Conservation we will be erecting signage and barriers at the Tāne Mahuta entrance and locking the gate to Kauri Walks until further notice. • Our ambassador staff will take on a new role of Kauri Protection Ambassadors and will be at both sites moving kindly moving visitors on during daytime hours. • Some operations staff will take on a new role as security to support our Kauri Protection Ambassadors, with regular patrols of these sites during all hours of the day. • Ambassadors and security will operate under strict social distancing protocols advised by the Government response. • License plates, photos of vehicles and people not complying will be documented during this this enforcement period. Our aim is to protect our kauri forest during these uncertain times, not to bully anyone or be a hōhā. Your respect of the rāhui and our forest is appreciated during these uncertain times, and we look forward to resuming our usual services once deemed safe by our Government Response. Photo Credit: Joseph MichaeL Visiting the Big Trees |