MAP / #REDTOGREEN / ANZAC DRIVE RESERVE & MAHINGA KAI
Anzac Drive Reserve & Mahinga Kai
Kia ora, trail travellers!
It may not look like it at first glance, but this is a very significant spot!
Here, at Anzac Drive Reserve, you’re at what is really the ‘heart’ of the Green Spine trail. This is where it all began: where people helped Papatūānuku Mother Earth turn the concept of a Green Spine for the city into a reality.
Beginning in 2014
In 2014, Avon Ōtākaro Network led the first native planting project here, in collaboration with manawhenua – the local iwi Ngāi Tahu and hapū Ngāi Tūāhuriri – as well as the Department of Conservation and the regional and city councils.
Ten years later, in 2024, the second (final) phase of planting was completed. The native bush is now established and self-regenerating. Mahi tika ana! Great work!
Mahinga kai principles
The project follows mahinga kai principles and is designated a ‘Mahinga Kai Exemplar’: a living demonstration of food management practices and environmental stewardship from a Māori perspective. Traditionally, mana whenua gathered food from wetlands such as this.
Mahinga kai is a way of understanding food management that involves using the resource while protecting its long-term future.
Ngāī Tahu also interprets mahinga kai in a broad sense, to include food for mind and spirit. Education and learning (‘food for thought’) along with spirituality (feeling connected with the world around us) is as much a part of the concept as the management of physical food to eat.
Mahinga kai influence
How might the mahinga kai concept influence food production and consumption in our city? How might following mahinga kai principles alter how we treat the environment? What might the long-term improvements be?
It’s no surprise that my feathered bird-friends, including pūkeko and pūtangitangi paradise ducks, love the results of this project. You might find they sneak into the pics you take through the #REDTOGREEN photo frame.
Don’t forget to post a photo to social media using the hashtag!
Fun fact:
Even though we are near the busy main road of Anzac Drive, the area is an important nursery for one of our native fish: inaka (inanga). You might know these juvenile fish as a type of whitebait.
Links
Learn more about mahinga kai
Whānau activity:
Make your own harakeke flax basket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9svkmhvckWc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLmA259TUEo