Taitokerau Forests Limited was founded in 1986 when the then Labour government agreed to advance mortgage finance to grow trees on marginal Māori land in the north. …Thirty years on, most of the trees have been harvested and the government loan repaid, with interest. Taitokerau Forests chair Rawson Wright, of Ngāti Whātua, said in retrospect it was a brilliant scheme and remarkable for the collaboration of the many hapu and iwi groups involved. “The company structure was strong; iwi politics was set aside at the board table,” he said.