The Nelson Coast temperate forests is an

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Location and description

These forests are located on the flanks of the

Paparoa Range The Paparoa Range is a mountain range in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. It was the first New Zealand land seen by a European – Abel Tasman in 1642. Part of the range has the country's highest protection as a national par ...

and other mountains at the top of South Island. The area is thickly forested and has high rainfall, especially on the west-facing slopes but less so on the sheltered eastern side, which has golden sand beaches. Natural features of the region include: the limestone Pancake Rocks near the town of Punakaiki on the edge of Paparoa National Park;

Farewell Spit Farewell Spit ( mi, Onetahua) is a narrow sand spit at the northern end of the Golden Bay, South Island of New Zealand. It runs eastwards from Cape Farewell, the island's northernmost point. Farewell Spit is a legally protected Nature Reserve ...

at the north of the island, the longest sandspit in New Zealand; the nearby Te Waikoropupu Springs; and the karst areas on the flanks of

Mount Owen (New Zealand) Mount Owen is in the Tasman District of the South Island of New Zealand. It stands at 1875 metres (6150 feet) above sea level and is part of the Marino Mountains. There are a number of caves in the marble karst areas on the flanks of the ...

Kahurangi National Park Kahurangi National Park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand is the second largest of the thirteen national parks of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers , ranging to near Golden Bay in the north. Much of what was t ...

Flora

There are small areas of northern rata ''(Metrosideros robusta)'',

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 miro rainforest hardwoods as well as karaka ''(Corynocarpus laevigatus)'' and the

Nikau ''Rhopalostylis sapida'', commonly known as nīkau ( mi, nīkau), is a palm tree endemic to New Zealand, and the only palm native to mainland New Zealand. Etymology is a Māori word; in the closely related Eastern Polynesian languages of the ...

palm ''(Rhopalostylis sapida)'' near the coast. However most of the area is covered in

Southern beech ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

forest containing of all four species of Southern beech;

red beech Red beech is a common name applied to several species of trees: *'' Dillenia alata'', native to Northern Australia and New Guinea *'' Fuscospora fusca'', native to New Zealand *''Protorhus longifolia ''Protorhus longifolia'', the red beech, is ...

silver beech ''Nothofagus menziesii'', commonly known as silver beech ( mi, tawhai, tahina), is a tree of the southern beech family endemic to New Zealand. Its common name probably comes from the fact that its bark is whitish in colour, particularly in younge ...

and hard beech in the lowlands and mountain beech higher up. In the less fertile rocks areas there are yellow pine ''( Halocarpus biformis)'' and

Dracophyllum ''Dracophyllum'' is a genus of plants belonging to the family Ericaceae, formerly Epacridaceae. There are 61 species in the genus, mostly shrubs, but also cushion plants and trees, found in New Zealand, Australia, Lord Howe Island and New Caledon ...

s including the endemic D. townsonii and the mountain neinei (D. traversii). The alpine plants found here including Celmisia dallii occur as these peaks, along with

Fiordland Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lake ...

at the southern end of the island, were a high-altitude refuge from the effects of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

Fauna

The forests are home to a number of

endemic species Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

including two flightless birds that no longer survive in the lowland areas of the island, these are the western

weka The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen (''Gallirallus australis'') is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. It is the only extant member of the genus '' Gallirallus''. Four subspecies are recogni ...

and the largest kiwi, the

great spotted kiwi The great spotted kiwi, great grey kiwiDavies, S. J. J. F. (2003) or roroa (''Apteryx haastii'') is a species of kiwi endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. The great spotted kiwi, as a member of the ratites, is flightless. It is the larg ...

. The varied habitats in the region support a mixture of other birds found here include the

kea The kea (; ; ''Nestor notabilis'') is a species of large parrot in the family Nestoridae found in the forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wing ...

, the

kākā The New Zealand kākā (''Nestor meridionalis'') is a large species of parrot of the family Nestoridae found in New Zealand's native forests. The species is often known by the abbreviated name kākā, although it shares this name with the rece ...

''(Nestor meridionalis)'', the

kererū The kererū (''Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae'') or New Zealand pigeon is a species of pigeon native to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin described the bird in 1789 as a large, conspicuous pigeon up to in length and in weight, with a white br ...

''(Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae)'' and the kārearea ''(Falco novaeseelandiae)''. Farewell Spit in particular is an important site for wading birds and is on a migration route. The area is also rich in invertebrates including almost half of the known species of amber snails ''(

Powelliphanta ''Powelliphanta'' is a genus of large, air-breathing land snails, pulmonate gastropods in the family Rhytididae, found only in New Zealand. They are carnivorous, eating invertebrates, mostly native earthworms. Often restricted to very small areas ...

)''.

Threats and preservation

The forests are threatened by logging and mining, although it is impossible to get permits for large-scale mining in the Kahurangi. The karst limestone is particularly fragile and even damaged by recreational

caving Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology i ...

. The wildlife is threatened by

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

but they are largely intact at higher elevations. Much of the ecoregion is protected within three national parks; the large

and Paparoa National Parks on the west coast, and Abel Tasman National Park on the north east coast. The coastline is unspoilt too and some of it, including Farewell Spit, is protected as nature reserves of national parks. Efforts are being made to control invasive introduced species, particularly

possums Possum may refer to: Animals * Phalangeriformes, or possums, any of a number of arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi ** Common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula''), a common possum in Australian urban a ...

although deer, chamois, hares and goats are also targeted for control. Birds eggs and snails are vulnerable to rats, possums,

stoats The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine, Beringian ermine and ermine, is a mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern portions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Conc ...

and wild pigs. Forest fires are always a threat.

References

{{reflist Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Ecoregions of New Zealand Forests of New Zealand Geography of the Tasman District Geography of the West Coast, New Zealand