Ngutukākā, or kākābeak, is a popular garden plant in Aotearoa. But in the wild, it is now rarer than kākāpō, with only about 100 individual plants surviving on steep, inaccessible cliffs. The East Coast is one of its remaining strongholds and the Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā Trust is on a mission to bring the taonga back. Veronika Meduna joins the inaugural Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā Festival to find out more about the community’s efforts to turn State Highway 35 into a Crimson Highway by rewilding this iconic native.

Guests:

• Graeme Atkins, Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā Trust
• Mere Tamanui, Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā Trust
• Hōhepa Waenga, East Coast Myrtle Rust Response Team
• Natalie Robertson, artist and Associate Professor at Auckland University of Technology
• Emma Giesen, Trees That Count
• Stephanie Gardner, Trees That Count
• Tamariki from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Mangatuna

Learn more:

• Read the article that accompanies this episode.
• Visit the Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā website
• Graeme Atkins featured in a recent episode of Country Life.
• For more on rare flora, Our Changing World has covered threatened limestone plants and explored what will happen to alpine plants in a warming world.

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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details