Te Urewera is the home to one of New Zealand’s greatest forests. Almost every bird species native to the North Island is to be found in this eastern pocket of lush bush and tucked away hidden amid the dense green growth is the stunning Lake Waikairemoana. The landscape of Te Urewera is inscribed with great cultural significance and has been the place of highly charged politically events. Te Urewera is home to the Maori tribe, Tuhoe, who are fiercely independent and the only tribe not to sign the Treaty of Waitangi with the first British settlers. Nor has the tribe entered a formal relationship with the British Crown, the sovereign head of state in New Zealand. Te Urewera National Park was formed in 1954 against the wishes of Tuhoe. However the recent treaty settlement, in which it was agreed to remove reference to it as a national park, reflects the changing nature of the relationship between Tuhoe and the state.