A message from our chair

                                                                          Paenga-whāwhā  – April 2025

Tangi ai te hau ki runga o Kaimanawa.

Ka piki ko te hau pungawere.

Ka tau ki ngā wai māreparepa ki Taupō.

Ko ngā wai roimata ka heke ki te tangi kau.

Kaati! Tirohia iho ki ngā manu e tangi nei,

Tui, tui, tuituia

Spotlight on distribution model

Recently I wrote to you, our owners, regarding the decision to pause the annual distribution for the 2024-2025 year. Included in that message were the two key reasons for doing so:

1. The impact that Cyclone Gabrielle has had on our income now and for the next five years because it took out mature trees close to harvest and generated substantial replanting costs.

2. Our ownership base has now topped 15,000 and, as the share value is diluted by succession, it is time for us to consider a new distribution model.

That said, the Lake Taupō Forest Trust continues to be a steady and stable Ngāti Tūwharetoa economic entity. The Trustees take their kaitiakitanga role seriously by protecting the legacy left by preceding trustees over five decades who set up and maintained a successful and valuable foundation.

But the next 50 years requires some different thinking to ensure that we can provide the most value to our uri, while continuing to protect the whenua. We are now in a space where we need to be more innovative with our distribution model and how we consider making the most impactful investments into transformative benefits for our whānau.

Although we have decided to pause the dividend distribution for the current financial year 2024-2025, we continue to provide grants that support students through their studies, assist whānau with tangihanga expenses, provide annual kaumātua grants, and distribute operational funds to our 10 marae. We are also reviewing these this year, to again make sure they are fit for purpose and align with the highest needs and aspirations of our whānau.

We are excited about the big-picture view which includes diversification away from a reliance solely on pine trees, and building a relevant, agile and hapū-focused enterprise to take us into the future.

Tina Porou, Chair

New Trustee appointed

We welcome Tāne Lawless as a Trustee to the board. This follows the recent passing of Clinton “Binky” Ellis.

The Trust Order permits the next highest polling candidate to be appointed where the remaining term is more than 12 months.

Tāne, pictured, brings to the Trust a passion for protecting the health of our wai and whenua, and the health and well-being of our whānau and future generations. o socials to find out more

Kua tae mai tātou ki te Ngahurutanga o te tau

During Ngahuru temperatures cool and the last of our migration manu head north – like the pīpīwharauroa.

Ngahuru is a time for collecting seeds or preserving kai like pickles or chutney. However, some vegetables taste better after a winter frost, as the freeze converts starches into sugars.

Following hauhake, we enter the season of Takurua – let’s keep our home fires burning.

Our tūpuna looked forward to this time as an indication of what will come in the new year.

Trustees at the AGM, from left: Taina Cooper, Tāne Lawless, Manaia Blaikie, Ngahere Wall, Tina Porou, John Bishara, Heemi James Biddle, Tangonui Kingi.

Focus ahead on wider benefits

The pause on the annual distribution in 2024-25 was the key announcement at the recent annual general meeting of the Trust, but it was accompanied by a pledge to strengthen the ongoing charitable grants and look at new and broader benefits to deliver to a growing ownership base.

Chair Tina Porou outlined opportunities to be explored and developed which will deliver more than an annual dividend to owners current and future.

Grants and scholarships have been the main thrust of the Trust’s commitment to well-being and education but watch for broader initiatives being rolled out. 

Among those ideas are:

• Supporting the health and well-being of our whānau
• Providing financial literacy programmes to help upskill whānau to be economically resilient and independent
• Establishing a Tūwharetoa business hub for emerging entrepreneurs so we can grow the number of successful employers in our rohe and beyond
• Creating more taiao-based projects and uses that focus on wai, whenua, kai and rongoā
• Hononga ki te whenua – strengthening our connection to the whenua by providing opportunities for whānau and hapū to engage and reaffirm their identity through our taiao.

Salvage mahi acknowledged

About 230 forest trust whānau attended the recent AGM at Korohe Marae for the 2023-24 financial year.

Those involved in the two-year cyclone damage salvage operation were thanked by various speakers for their hard work and dedication through such a challenging time. And those locked out of the whenua during salvage work, on safety grounds, were thanked for their patience.

There was also discussion around the challenges of succession and registration, and stresses on the distribution model caused by this and the damage from the cyclone.

While the meeting covered the usual management and financial matters, there was plenty of time for kōrero and pātai.

Sign-up leads to quick payouts

Our total number of owners has just ticked over the 15,000 mark and some of those new registrations have quickly received dividends.

The Trust holds about $16 million in unclaimed dividends for descendants – so we love seeing new owners registered and, in many cases, quickly accessing the money owed to them.

We are also always interested in helping people with their succession and registration but as time goes on that becomes harder if succession from one generation to the next is overlooked. A big portion of the $16 million in unclaimed dividends goes back to the 1970s-80s-90s.

Right now, we are focusing on getting less-historical payments moving along, targeting those owed $5000-$10,000. And that starts with succession (Māori Land Court) and registration (with the Trust).

Just lately we have processed several new registrations, enabling people to access shares and associated dividends. So it was well worth the effort.

The Māori Land Court succession process currently can take between four and eight months but, once granted, the registration paperwork with the Trust is straight forward and we have people in Administration and Grants at Tūrangi happy to help.

Find out more at www.ltft.co.nz/registration or call into the Tūrangi office to talk it over with Keita or Shanyn.

Do you know these people?

The owners listed below are owed unclaimed money ($5000-$10,000) from the Trust. If you know these people or their uri, we’d appreciate knowing their whereabouts so we can get them registered and have their monies paid.

Feel free to phone 07 386 8839 or visit our office in Tūrangi.

Kaumātua grants

Our Kaumātua grants were paid in February.

The $200 grant is an annual payment from the Lake Taupō Charitable Trust and, if the Trust has your details, it is an automatic process – no need to apply.

Eligibility:

• Registered beneficial owners of the Lake Taupō Forest Trust aged 70 years old or over.
• Beneficial owners who have put their Lake Taupō Forest Trust shares into a whānau trust.

If you did not receive your payment, please contact Shanyn or Keita at 07 386 8839 or call into the Tūrangi office.

Day-time access during roar

We have week-day day-time access to specific areas in Lake Taupō Forest during the roar season.

The Trust and NZ Forest Managers are again re-scheduling a range of forest operations to avoid interaction between hunters and workers for this period.

However, with fire risk and other possible emergencies owners are urged to take all normal precautions when accessing the lands during this time, and not to assume there are no operations happening.

A day out in the taiao

During the AGM we talked about “hononga ki te whenua”, an initiative that sees more whānau accessing the forest and learning more about our taiao and sites.

On Saturday 15 March we held the first of five wānanga planned over the next 12 months. We had more than 20 owners participate in this first initiative with the aim of increasing these numbers at future wānanga.

These days are designed around whānau, hapū and marae attendees, with a focus on education and connecting with places and spaces unlikely visited by owners up until now.

Participants enjoyed the shared kōrero, going into older areas of the bush and hearing stories of our tūpuna, meeting whānau and being able to visit the whenua.

We are already planning the next wānanga so keep an eye out on our social media channels.

From left: Richard Broughton, Sandy Gibbison, Patrick Nepia, Amy Walker, John Bishara, Taina Cooper and Hepi Ferris-Bretherton.

Manupiri forest visit

Our new Manupiri Kaitiaki spent time on the whenua with senior Trust staff recently.

Hepi Ferris-Bretherton and Taina Cooper joined the trust last year and bring younger voices and skills to the table while also gaining governance experience.

They took a trip with staff out on the whenua shortly before the February AGM where they introduced themselves to the audience.