Taranaki Mounga is an ambitious conservation project to secure the mountain, ranges and islands of Taranaki from pests, restore and revitalise wildlife, and transform the ecological resilience of the project area to a state reflecting the Mounga’s importance long into the future. It is a collaborative partnership between DOC, Iwi of Taranaki, NEXT Foundation and founding sponsors Shell New Zealand, TSB Community Trust, Jasmine Social Investments and Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research.
In the dialect of Taranaki iwi, mountain is more often pronounced Mounga, rather than Maunga, and was certainly the more known historic dialect – both pronounciations and spelling refer to the mountain.
A consortium of the NEXT Foundation, Department of Conservation, iwi and founding sponsors Shell New Zealand, TSB Community Trust, Jasmine Social Investments and Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research are collaboratively resourcing this $24 million landscape-scale restoration project across the volcanic peaks and islands of Taranaki. All the partners are working together towards common goals for the good of Taranaki Mounga.
Taranaki Mounga will transform the project area into a place full of birds and other wildlife, where threatened and vulnerable species are widely distributed in the Park and resilient to climatic and other disturbances, and ecosystem processes are functioning and not under threat. This will be achieved through innovative pest management.
The project extends from the Ngā Motu / Sugar Loaf islands by New Plymouth to the peaks of Kaitake, Pouakai and Taranaki and over the 34,000ha of Te Papakura o Taranaki, previously called Egmont National Park. Over time Taranaki Mounga will work with groups including the Taranaki Regional Council, farmers and environmental groups like the Taranaki Biodiversity Trust to create a halo around the mountain to protect the perimeter of the park against re-invasion from pests.