In January 2010, the Crown recognised the mandate of Mana Ahuriri Incorporated to enter negotiations for the comprehensive settlement of all Ahuriri Hapū historical Treaty of Waitangi claims. 

On 19 December 2013, the Crown and Ahuriri Hapū signed an Agreement in Principle which formed the basis for this settlement. The Ahuriri Hapū Deed of Settlement was initialled on 19 June 2015 and signed on 12 October 2016. The settlement will be implemented following the passage of settlement legislation. The post-settlement governance entity for Ahuriri Hapū is the Mana Ahuriri Trust.

The Office of Treaty Settlements, with the support of the Ministry for the Environment, Department of Conservation, Land Information New Zealand and other government agencies, represented the Crown in day-to-day negotiations.

The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Hon Christopher Finlayson, represented the Crown in high-level negotiations with Ahuriri Hapū.

By the late 1840s, Ahuriri Hapū lived at settlements around Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu and the surrounding area, including Te Poraiti, Wharerangi, Awatoto, Waitanoa, Kapemaihi and Pētane. About this time, Ahuriri rangatira began to consider the advantages that might arise from the promotion of Pākehā settlement in the Ahuriri district and offered land to the Crown for Pākehā settlement.

In 1850, the Crown opened negotiations with Ahuriri Māori to purchase a large block of land in their rohe. In order to persuade Ahuriri Māori to accept low prices, the Crown led them to believe that they would derive considerable benefits from selling their land to the Crown. In November 1851, the Crown purchased the Ahuriri block for £1,500. Ahuriri Hapū have long protested that Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu, a place of high spiritual and cultural significance and an important mahinga kai, was not included in the Ahuriri purchase. Although some land was reserved from within the boundaries of the Ahuriri block, the Crown did not ensure the reserves would be preserved in Ahuriri Hapū ownership.

By 1855, the Crown’s approach to land purchasing south of the Ahuriri block was contributing to tensions among Hawke’s Bay Māori. The Crown was aware of these tensions but continued negotiations to purchase land in Hawke’s Bay. In August 1857, armed conflict broke out among Hawke’s Bay Māori. Fourteen Māori were killed and 39 were wounded in three engagements. In 1861, growing Māori opposition to land sales led the Crown to suspend land purchasing operations in Hawke’s Bay and other districts.

In October 1866, Crown military forces attacked two parties of armed Māori at Ōmarunui and Herepoho after the expiry of an ultimatum demanding the surrender of Ōmarunui pā. The Crown captured 86 prisoners after these attacks, including individuals from Ngāti Matepū and Ngāti Māhu, and sent most of the prisoners to the Chatham Islands where they were detained without trial in harsh conditions for nearly two years.

In 1865, the Crown promoted native land laws that provided for title to Māori land to be awarded to no more than ten individual grantees as absolute owners (the ’ten-owner rule‘). Ahuriri Hapū understood the individual grantees to be trustees for their hapū communities. The Native Lands Act 1865 enabled the shares of individual grantees to be alienated without the consent of the other grantees for that block or other customary right-holders whose names were not included on the title. The 1865 Act did not prevent some settlers using practices such as extending credit to grantees and subsequently acquiring Māori land after securing debt against land titles with mortgages. These practices caused considerable public controversy in Hawke’s Bay. There was some doubt that grantees fully understood the legal implications of the mortgages, leases and sales they agreed to.

By 1870, the Crown and private parties had acquired about 51,000 acres of approximately 54,000 acres awarded to Ahuriri Hapū individuals under the ten-owner rule. In 1867, 1870 and 1873, the Crown introduced legislation that attempted to provide for Māori land titles that better reflected the interests of wider communities of right-holders and to remedy problems that had arisen as a result of the ten-owner rule. These remedial measures did not apply to Ahuriri Hapū lands which had already passed through the Native Land Court by 1867 and which had been alienated by 1870. Over the next thirty years, Ahuriri Hapū protested about land issues through participation in the Repudiation and Kotahitanga movements. These movements sought the review of previous land transactions, the restriction of further land sales and the reform of the native land laws.

In 1874, Parliament set aside all of Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu as an endowment for the Napier Harbour Board. Parliament did not establish a role for Ahuriri Hapū on the Board. After the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake raised parts of the bed of Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu above the water level, the Napier Harbour Board leased most of Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu to the Crown, and the Crown commenced drainage and reclamation work in Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu. The processes of drainage and reclamation, combined with the diversion of the Tutaekuri River outlet to the sea, reduced Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu (originally approximately 9,500 acres in area) to a narrow tidal channel. Today, the remaining water-covered estuary area amounts to approximately 680 acres at high tide.

Between about 1900 and 1930, the Crown and private parties acquired most of the remaining lands of Ahuriri Hapū. Ahuriri Hapū state that money raised from these land sales was often required to meet living costs. By the post-Second World War period, most Ahuriri Māori had turned to waged employment to provide the necessities of life. The search for work led many whānau to leave rural pā and kāinga and settle in urban areas such as Napier and Hastings. This undermined traditional kāinga and pā communities.

• Pakake
• Conservation House property, and
• Heipipi Pa Historic Reserve.

• Balls Clearing Scenic Reserve, and
• Otatara Pa Historic Reserve.

• Esk River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest
• Fern Bird Bush Nature Reserve
• Hutchinson Scenic Reserve
• part of Kaimanawa Forest Park
• part of Kaweka State Forest Park
• Kuripapango DOC Field Base
• Mangaone River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest
• Mohaka River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest
• Ngaruroro River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest
• Puketitiri (Kaweka Field Centre)
• Tutaekuri River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest, and
• Ahuriri Hapū Coastal Marine Area.

• Esk River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest
• Fern Bird Bush Nature Reserve
• Hutchinson Scenic Reserve part of Kaimanawa Forest Park
• part of Kaweka State Forest Park
• Kuripapango DOC Field Base
• Mangaone River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest
• Mohaka River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest
• Ngaruroro River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest
• Puketitiri (Kaweka Field Centre), and
• Tutaekuri River and its tributaries within the Ahuriri Hapū area of interest.

• Bluff Hill, Hospital Hill, Napier Hill, Scinde Island to Mataruahou
• Mouth of Ngaruroro River (local use) to Te Ipu-o-Taraia
• Perfume Point (local use) to Te Karaka
• Sturms Gully (local use) to Karetoki Whare
• the twin lakes in Kaweka Forest Park - Eastern Lake to Rotoroa, and
• the twin lakes in Kaweka Forest Park - Western Lake to Rototuna.

• the choice of purchasing 170a Waghorne St either as an early release property or to purchase it on settlement date
• up to one year after settlement date to elect to purchase ten landbank properties
• up to two years after settlement date to elect to purchase Ahuriri Station
• up to three years after settlement date to elect to purchase six properties including Whakatu Forest
• a right of first refusal for 174 years over ten properties,and
• up to two years after settlement date to elect to up to two years after settlement date to elect to purchase the Crown shareholding in the Hawke’s Bay Airport Ltd and
• a right of first refusal over the Crown’s shareholding in Hawke’s Bay Airport Ltd.