Te Auaunga Oakley Creek is a scenic watercourse that holds social, cultural and biological importance within Auckland as a home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, both native and exotic.  But help was needed to restore and enhance the riparian ecology as it was under threat from the spread of invasive weeds, which were suppressing and preventing the regeneration of native flora.

 

Our work for Council included helping to renew an archaeological authority permit to continue ecological restoration, identifying the need for resource consent because of a plethora of rule infringements under the operative district plan, the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan and National Environmental Standards, and engaging with iwi, Friends of Oakley Creek and local council to devise a collaborative solution.

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4Sight also developed GIS maps for the project team locating known archaeological and contaminated sites, developed a soil handling plan to mitigate the risk of exposure to contamination during works, designed guidance sheets to help contractors and volunteers identify archaeological remains, as well as protocols to follow, should further archaeological sites be encountered. We recommended a programme of consultation with iwi, which eventually developed into a partnership that allowed Mana Whenua to exercise kaitiakitanga over the awa. Working collaboratively with Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei, Ngāi Tai Ki Tāmaki and Te Kawerau a Maki, 4Sight drafted a Cultural Monitoring Programme named Ngā Aratohu o Ngā Kaiaroturuki (Cultural Monitoring Guidelines) that facilitated the opportunity for those iwi groups to manage the environment and provide Mātauranga Māori (i.e. traditional knowledge, wisdom, understanding or skill).