Westland Tai Poutini National Park is a national park located on the western coast 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 ...

's South Island. Established in 1960 as Westland National Park to commemorate the centenary of the European settlement of

Westland District Westland District is a territorial authority district on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is administered by the Westland District Council. The district's population is History Westland was originally a part of Canterbury P ...

, it covers of largely mountainous terrain and forest. The park borders the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park along the Main Divide of the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, and includes many of the West Coast's glaciers, most notably including the Fox / Te Moeka o Tuawe and Franz Josef / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere glaciers. The small tourist towns of

Fox Glacier Fox Glacier (; officially Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe) is a temperate maritime glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Like nearby Franz Josef Glacier, Fox Glacier is one of ...

and

Franz Josef / Waiau Franz Josef / Waiau is a small town in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. Whataroa is to the north-east, and the township of Fox Glacier (town), Fox Glacier is to the south-west. The Waiho River r ...

are the main settlements within the park, while remnants of old

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

towns can be found along the coast. The park offers hunting opportunities for

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

, chamois, and tahr, while helicopters allow hunters to access the rugged, mountainous areas. The popular

Copland Track The Copland Track is a tramping track in the south Westland area of New Zealand's South Island, well known for the naturally-occurring hot springs at Welcome Flat along its route. The main track is approximately long one-way from the trailhead ...

runs upstream from the

Karangarua River The Karangarua River is located in the west of New Zealand's South Island. It flows northwest from the Southern Alps, entering the Tasman Sea 80 kilometres northeast of Haast. The main tributary of the Karangarua is the Copland River The Cop ...

bridge. Along with the mountain scenery visible from the track, there are hot springs at Welcome Flat Hut. The park has been progressively expanded since its establishment, largely through incorporating nearby forest reserves or other conservation land. Ōkārito and Waikukupa State Forests were added to the park in 1982, followed by the upper Karangarua Valley in 1983, North Ōkārito and Saltwater State Forests in 2002, and over of other land scattered throughout the park in 2010

Geography

Westland Tai Poutini National Park covers exclusively on the western side of the South Island's main divide, making it New Zealand's fifth largest national park. The park covers a wide variety of environments, ranging from high alpine tundra near the park's border with

Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand. Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain, and the eponymous village lie within the park. The area was gazetted as a national park in October 1953 and consists ...

to coastal wetlands around Ōkārito Lagoon. This contributes to a large variation in elevation within the park, which extends from sea level to at

Mount Tasman Mount Tasman (''Horokoau'' in Māori) is New Zealand's second highest mountain, rising to a height of . It is located in the Southern Alps of the South Island, four kilometres to the north of its larger neighbour, Aoraki / Mount Cook. Unlike ...

. The mountains are also responsible for the high degree of

orographic rainfall In meteorology, the different types of precipitation often include the character, formation, or phase of the precipitation which is falling to ground level. There are three distinct ways that precipitation can occur. Convective precipitation is g ...

which occurs in the park due to the prevailing westerlies, contributing in turn to the dense

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American ...

found throughout the park.

References

{{Authority control Westland District Protected areas established in 1960 Protected areas of the West Coast, New Zealand Southern Alps 1960 establishments in New Zealand

Geography

See also

References