Belmont Regional Park is a regional park located between

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

and

Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...

, in the

Wellington Region Greater Wellington, also known as the Wellington Region (Māori: ''Te Upoko o te Ika''), is a non-unitary region of New Zealand that occupies the southernmost part of the North Island. The region covers an area of , and has a population of T ...

at the southern end of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. It is administered by

Wellington Regional Council Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for Public transport in the Wellington Region, public ...

. The park is the largest regional park in the Wellington region. It was the first park in New Zealand to include land for recreation, conservation and farming.

Geography

The park covers about from Wellington Harbour to

Haywards Haywards is a small hillside suburb in the Hutt Valley near Wellington, New Zealand. It is notable for its large electrical substation, which is the main switching point for the Wellington region, and the home of the North Island converter stat ...

and to Porirua. It contains farm land, native bush, and peaks up to (Belmont Trig). The hills were originally covered in

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian ...

and northern rata, over a canopy of tawa and hinau. Some pockets of native forest have remained, particularly around Korokoro Valley, which has been used for water collection.

History

19th century - 1986

European settlers took private ownership of the area in the late 18th century, clearing the dense bush for farmland. The

New Zealand Government , background_color = #012169 , image = New Zealand Government wordmark.svg , image_size=250px , date_established = , country = New Zealand , leader_title = Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern , appointed = Governor-General , main_organ = , ...

purchased some of the land for water during the early 19th century. The

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

also purchased land for ammunition magazines during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, to store munitions used in the Pacific Ocean theatre.

1986 - 2016

The park was established in 1986, under the name Waitangirua Farm. It was renamed Belmont Regional Park in 1989, becoming the first park in New Zealand to combine land for recreation, conservation and farming.

Landcorp Landcorp Farming Limited ("Landcorp") is a state-owned enterprise of the New Zealand government. Its brand name is Pāmu, the Te Reo Māori word 'to farm'. Its core business is pastoral farming including dairy, sheep, beef and deer, as well as ...

took ownership of part of the park from June 1986 to June 2016, which it used to run a sheep and beef breeding farm. Landcorp attempted to sell a third of the park to private farmers in 2005. After a local campaign against the sale, the

and

Porirua City Council Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. T ...

intervened to buy the land instead.

2016 - 2020

When Landcorp's lease ended in June 2016, part of the land was allowed to revert to native vegetation. The remainder was opened to commercial farming licenses. The construction of

Transmission Gully Transmission Gully, a chain of steep-sided, isolated valleys in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, runs approximately north–south between the Kapiti Coast and Tawa, through hills east of Porirua. The gully's name comes from the 110,000- ...

between 2016 and 2022 further reduced the available grazing area in the park. A body was discovered next to a burnt car in the park in February 2016. A helicopter with specialist thermal gear was used to find a missing beagle in the park in April 2018. In August 2018, children found an explosive shell in the regional park that appeared to be from World War II. The company in charge of building

was convicted and fined for discharging sentiment into streams in Belmont Regional Park over a month-long early 2019, with sentencing occurring in 2020.

2020 - Present

Wellington Regional Council consulted on the future of the park in 2020, opting reduce stock grazing and increase native bush and wetlands. In 2021, there were reports of deer turning up in the regional park and nearby suburbs. Planting was due to take place in western parts of the park in 2022, as part of New Zealand's largest ever plant restoration project.

Recreation

There are several entrances from the Hutt Valley side and two on the Porirua side. Some tracks permit mountain biking and horse riding. The 6-7 hour 'Puke Ariki' traverse, is used by trampers and mountainbikers. There is also a cheap camping site in the park.

References

External links

Wellington Regional Council
{{Protected areas of New Zealand Regional parks of New Zealand Lower Hutt Porirua Parks in the Wellington Region