He Hononga Wai, He Hononga Mātauranga: Exploring the Ecological Health and Oranga of the Whanganui Stream Catchment, Lake Taupō

Freshwater environments in Aotearoa New Zealand, are increasingly recognised as complex socio-cultural-ecological environments. The health and oranga (wellbeing) of stream catchments are understood through diverse perspectives that reflect different cultural values, knowledge systems, and relationships with freshwater. This research is essential to negotiating the benefits of dual-knowledge systems in order to explore ways of perceiving and conceptualising the overall health of stream catchments. It aims to explore the ecological health and oranga (wellbeing) of the Whanganui Stream Catchment from the Hauhungaroa Ranges to Lake Taupō. The objectives of this research are to establish a biophysical scientific assessment of the health of the Whanganui Stream Catchment from eight sampling sites and engage hapū in dialogue of how biophysical metrics might be conceptualised as oranga from a hapū (sub tribal) perspective. The Whanganui Stream Catchment is located on the Western Bays of Lake Taupō in the central North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. The catchment is approximately 75 km2 in size, comprising mostly of farmland, native forest, exotic pine forest, sub-alpine frost-flat heathland and the primary papakāinga (village) for the hapū of Ngāti Te Maunga. Guided by the He Waka Taurua Framework by Maxwell et al. (2020), this research employed a mixed-method approach. This included Western scientific methods of water quality sampling and Environmental DNA (eDNA) analyses, and kaupapa Māori methodologies and approaches through kōrero (semi-structured interviews) and wānanga (focus-group discussion). This research found that on average E. coli concentrations of the Whanganui Stream are increasing by approximately 3.96 CFU/100 mL per year. In conjunction, six themes describing the oranga (wellbeing) of the Whanganui Stream Catchment emerged from qualitative analyses. The research explored how a biophysical assessment of ecological health could support hapū perspectives of the oranga (wellbeing) of freshwater. Overall, this research negotiates dual-knowledge systems to engage a richer understanding of health and oranga of the Whanganui Stream Catchment.