Dave Rogers, iwi leader and DOC senior ranger, visitor and heritage assets, was going through his work diaries when I showed up for our interview. He has a few, going back to 1975 when he quit his secure town job so he could work on the maunga on a government employment scheme. He became a permanent park employee after 18 months.
Not surprisingly, he's seen huge changes in park use and management in the past 48 years, and in iwi recognition and, finally, reconciliation. In March, Ngā Iwi o Taranaki and the Crown initialled the historic Te Ruruku Pūtakerongo, Taranaki Collective Redress Deed.
Rogers (Te Atiawa, Ngāti Ruanui, Taranaki, Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Maniapoto (on his mother's side) and English (fourth generation in Stratford on his father's) has played a significant role in all of these.
There was no formal ranger qualification when he started his national park career. “My first experience was living in the huts, a week at a
