No, I didn't even grow up here although I consider myself from here because I know the land well and I feel like my emotions are intrinsically tied to it. It is my home, in simple terms. The region was originally covered in dense native forest. Since European colonisation Maori have been complicit in its deforestation and the continuation of desecration of sacred land for profit. I am not trying to seem too bitter, but I dont consider that there are any existing entities that represent anything consistent with the principles that the land was originally treated with. I remember an old man once rambling to me about how there were a lot of brown people around but only a handful of Maori left. The farm on Pihanga is sacrilege, the best forest on the mountain sold for easy profit. The pine forests that cover the remaining tuahu below Pihanga are intensely disrespectful to what exists there. The headland Kohatu Kaioraora, old time pa and host to numerous burial sites, is in a state of neglect. It would be an immense relief for me if all these areas can be given to the Pihanga scenic reserve and all exotic trees removed from them. It should've happened as soon as the land went back.