3.2 NGĀTI KUIA Ngāti Kuia's statements of association are set out below. These are statements of Ngāti Kuia's particular cultural, spiritual, historical, and traditional association with identified areas. LAKES ROTOITI AND ROTOROA, NELSON LAKES NATIONAL PARK These wāhi tapu incorporate our cultural values of take tupuna. They are places which our tupuna explored and used. The resources of the Lakes and environs were used by Ngāti Kuia tupuna from Ngāti Wairangi, Ngāti Kopiha and Ngāti Tumatakokiri. The intermarriages led to the development of trading trails between the kin groups, which they maintained with other iwi of Te Waipounamu. The Lakes formed the central terminus or hub for many of these trails, nga mangatawhai (the many trails), linking related communities in the Wairau, Waiau-toa (Clarence River), Kaituna, Whakatu (Nelson), Te Hoiere (Pelorus), Tai Aorere (Tasman Bay) and the Kawatiri district. Ngāti Kuia tupuna had considerable knowledge of places for gathering kai and other taonga, ways in which to use the resources of the roto (lakes) and tikanga for the proper and sustainable utilisation of resources. All these values remain important to Ngāti Kuia today. The Lakes are the source of important waterways within the Ngāti Kuia rohe such as the Motupiko and Motueka Rivers. The lakes area was a rich source of mahinga kai, including birds, (kiwi, South Island kokako, piopio and weka and whio), kiore, eels, inanga, fern root, t d berries. A shrub called neinei is found in he root of the ti tree, an the lakes area. This was (and remains) highly valued by Ngāti Kuia and was used to make korowai. The region was a refuge for Ngāti Kuia after the iwi hou invasions, and formed a secure base for communities who continued to threaten the iwi hou, particularly in the Whakatu area (a short distance from the Lakes) along a well known trail. Extensive and well-establishe d fern gardens on the north facing slopes above Lake Rotoroa were cleared by burning and planted by Ngāti Kuia people after the invasions. Rotoiti and Rotoroa incorporate our cultural values of take ahi ka and are a core part of our cultural identity. We are identified as tangata whenua here. Rotoiti and Rotoroa symbolise for Ngāti Kuia people the intense nature of their relationship to their environment and the mauri or life force that is contained in all parts of the natural environment and binds the spiritual and physical worlds. Rotoiti and Rotoroa incorporate the cultural values of Ngāti Kuia mauri; Ngāti Kuia has mana, whakapapa associations and history here. We have tikanga and kawa which involve tapu and noa at these places. We have a responsibility and obligation to these places and their cultural, spiritual, historic and/or traditional values. TE OPE-A-KUPE (TE ANAMĀHANGA / PORT GORE) Puhikereru te maunga Te Anamāha nga te kainga Te Ope-a-Kupe te tauranga waka Raukawakawa te Moan a Ngāti Kuia te I wi Te Ope-a- Kupe is in Te Anamāhanga and lies in the shadow of three significant Ngāti Kuia m aunga which were also used as navigation aids. They are Puhikereru, named after a Ngāti Te Tau Ihu Statutory Acknowledgements Page 20 of 163