Kumutoto awa
If you have walked around Kelburn, driven through the Terrace tunnel or wondered past the Ngā Kina statues along the waterfront, you would have passed this awa (stream) and never known it was there. That’s because It’s hiding in plain sight; it is mostly culverted and piped underground, flowing underneath our roads and central streets of Wellington until it reaches the harbour, but there is one section of stream flowing freely through the ngahere (forest). This is Kumutoto.
Kumutoto is a culturally and historically significant awa, Kumutoto Pā was a Ngāti Mutunga settlement founded at the mouth of the stream in 1824. Today, only 3% of the awa remains above ground, rippling through Kumutoto Forest, the other 97% of the awa is moving beneath our feet, and although we can’t see it there are īka (fish) swimming beneath us too. Our freshwater fish make their way upstream as part of their lifecycle. Some of our native fish are excellent climbers, and to make it to Kumutoto Forest, these fish have a very long and steep journey through vertical pipes, much steeper than your usual walk up the Kelburn hill.. They will need the strong climbing superpowers of the Koaro and the banded Kōkopu!
Many hands have worked on the restoration of this ngahere and awa over the years; the latest Kumutoto Restoration Project is dedicated to revitalisation and aims to restore the mana and mauri of this space through wānanga, education and community engagement. Mountains to Sea Wellington have enjoyed watching this project grow and love to support their kaupapa in any way that we can!
Connection through education
Last year we spent time with students at Clifton Terrace Model School and Berhampore School exploring all aspects of habitat restoration and stream health using Kumutoto ngahere as our freshwater outdoor classroom and using the mahi thats been done in this space as a real-time example of the power of community restoration! The students spent time learning about Kumutoto, practicing water quality monitoring techniques and learning to weave a taura (rope) made from tī kouka leaves to help build a fish ladder for the fishies to use when scaling the culvert.
Connection with community
Watching this ngahere and project flourish has been an absolute joy for our freshwater team and we love supporting community engagement into these beautiful spaces. Earlier this year, we supported the Kritters at Kumutoto whānau event, which celebrated the taiao and we were able to educate about the importance of invertebrates within the stream ecosystem. Most recently, our freshwater team were able to host a spotlight event at Kumutoto awa as part of our Awa After Dark series. Introducing new faces to the awa and spotting some awesome īka (banded kōkopu and koaro) that came out to say hello, such a treat!
Big mihi to this awesome community group for dedicating their time, energy and hard work to revitalising this urban space and honouring the awa that is Kumutoto.
Want to come learn more or lend a helping hand? Check out their FB page to keep up to date with their mahi @Kumutoto Restoration Project. The community group run working bees every fortnight - next working bee/mahi taiao is on July 11th 10 am - 12 pm, the crew would love to see you there!
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