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Created in 1996, Kahurangi is the second youngest
among New Zealand's national parks.
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Specific
references for this page:
Gerald
Cubitt and Les Molloy 1994: Wild
New Zealand. New Holland.
Craig
Potton 1998:National
Parks of New Zealand. Craig Potton Publishing.
Conservation
Management Strategy - Nelson Marlborough Conservancy 1996-2006.
Department of Conservation
P.G.R. Chavasse and J.H. Johns 1983: New Zealand Forest
Parks. P.D. Hasselberg, Government .Printer.
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It is an area of superlatives:
the second largest protected area of New Zealand (452,002 hectares/1746
square miles), it has a wide geological variety coupled with
a diverse range of altitudes and landforms, some of the oldest
rocks in New Zealand, the most diverse flora of all national
parks, and is home and refuge to many native wildlife species.
Kahurangi National Park is a special haven for trampers. It
offers a range of tracks, from easy to very challenging, and
the vast Tasman Wilderness Area, untracked and without huts,
is suitable for the most experienced trampers.
See below: Activities - What to see and do in Kahurangi National Park
Geological
setting
Kahurangi National Park covers a large part of the north-western
corner of the South Island, a mountainous area with limited
lowlands. Although the area is located west of the Alpine Fault,
the ranges were also created by the Kaikoura orogeny which gave
rise to the Southern Alps (which mark the eastern edge of the
Alpine Fault).
See also the Mountains
of New Zealand, the Southern
Alps
The park is crossed in a broadly
north to south direction by the Karamea Fault, which connects
to the Alpine Fault at its southern end. The area has been tectonically
very active in the past century and a half. The landscape bears
many signs left by earthquakes, such as rockfalls and landslides
caused by the 1929 and 1968 earthquakes, and lakes created where
rivers were dammed by landslides.
See also Tectonics,
and Active
faults in New Zealand
Rock
types
Kagurangi National Park includes a variety of rock types which
are distributed in belts with a general north-south alignment.
From west to east the general setting is as follows:
- A major granitic batholith (intrusive block), the Karamea
Batholith.
- A western belt of paleozoic sedimentary rocks (which include
Ordovician trilobites and graptolites, some of the oldest
fossils found in New Zealand).
- A central belt of Cambrian volcanic and sedimentary rocks.
- An eastern belt of paleozoic sedmentary rocks which include
the marbles of Mt Arthur and Mt Owen karsts.
- An eastern major Mesozoic granitic batholith which invades
a mafic intrusive complex comprising pyroxene diorite, gabbro,
pyroxenite, and minor peridotite. This batholith also forms
the substratum of Abel Tasman National Park in its northern
reach.
See also Rocks
of the New Zealand mountains,
Abel
Tasman National Park
Landforms
Geological history and the action of erosion on
such diverse rocks has produced a variety of landforms throughout
the park. Perhaps the most striking are the karst areas (systems
of caves and rock dissolution features that occur in limestones).
The alpine karst areas of Mt Arthur and Mt Owen include cave
systems up to 900 metres (2952') deep, as well as the three
longest caves in New Zealand (34 km/21 miles for the longest
one). On the west coast the Oparara River flows through limestone
arches, in luxuriant rainforest.
Some high plateaux, like the Matiri Tops, are overlaid
by remnants of the younger (cenozoic) sedimentary rock cover
that were elevated high (1100 m/3610') during the mountain-building
phase, while rivers incised deep gorges in the underlying bedrock.
Other elevated plateaux include the 100 Acre and 1000 Acre plateaux.
Some lowlands, like the Gouland Downs and the Mt
Arthur Tablelands, are remnants of the tertiary (cenozoic) peneplains
which pre-date the Kaikoura orogeny.
Glacial landforms, remnants of the ice ages, are
also significant in the park.
Vegetation
The park is extensively forested, with podocarp
and mixed podocarp/beech forest at lower altitude, particularly
in the western parts, and extensive beech forest at higher altitude.
Red beech is the dominant species. On the west coast stands
of Nikau palms give the forest a distinctively tropical character.
However not all areas are forested, and both Mt Arthur Tablelands
and the Gouland Downs are wide open red tussock plains.
The diversity of rock types, soils, landforms
and climatic conditions in Kahurangi National Park result in
a wide variey of ecological conditions and corresponding diversity
of plants. The mountains of north-west Nelson, included in Kahurangi
National Park, are one of the five centres of plant evolution
and endemism on the mainland. The park contains half of New
Zealand's native plants (1226 of 2450 species), and 80 % of
all alpine species. Seventy-one species are found nowhere else.
Wildlife
Kahurangi National Park is a stronghold for many native wildlife
species, some of them rare, vulnerable or endangered. In particular
the existence of large areas of contiguous native forest provides
habitat for a wide range of native birds. There are 18 species
in the park, including New Zealand falcon, rock wren, kaka,
yellowhead, blue duck. The park is also, with Paparoa National
Park, one of the two strongholds of the great spotted kiwi.
See also the Paparoa
National Park
The park is also rich in other native wildlife forms, including
9 species of the giant carnivorous land snail Powelliphanta.
There is also a rich cave fauna, mostly endemic, of cave wetas,
cave beetles, and the Nelson cave spider, the largest indigenous
species in New Zealand.
Short
and day walks
Kahurangi National Park is the second largest in New Zealand,
and can be accessed from a number of roadends, both on the eastern
side and on the west coast. As a result there is a good choice
of short and day walks which give access to a wide range of
the natural features of the park.
Beech forests are the most common throughout the
park and are a feature of many walks.
Several walks in the Aorere Valley give access to
fine luxuriant podocarp forest, with kahikatea, rimu, matai
among the taller species.
North of Karamea several walks pass through stands
of coastal forest, very distinctive and tropical-looking with
their profusion of nikau palms.
Kahurangi National Park is especially rich in native
alpine plants, and many species can be observed in spring and
summer on a number of walks that lead into the alpine herbfields,
around Mt Arthur in particular. These Mt Arthur walks are also
an opportunity to enjoy the dramatic karstic landscape of the
area, including numerous marble outcrops, sinkholes, and many
dissolution features.
Very different is the low altitude limestone area
of the Oparara Valley on the west coast, clad in luxuriant rainforest.
The walks there lead to several arches over the Oparara River,
and a number of caves.
Tramping
"North West Nelson is a tramper's
paradise. This vast area has a wonderful diversity of natural
features and a network of tramping tracks unrivalled in New
Zealand. Landforms vary from rugged mountain ridges with picturesque
tarns, to gently rolling tussock downs, to wild river gorges,
and include important areas of karst with spectacular arches
and deep cave systems. [...]
The network of tracks can cater for the full range of fitness,
experience and trip duration. There are short trips requiring
only a few hour's walking from the roadend, or longer trips
on popular and high standard tracks such as the Heaphy or Wangapeka,
or trips over now little used goldminer's trails. For those
who like to explore untracked country, the Tasman Wilderness
Area and other large tracts offer endless opportunities".
Derek
Shaw, in North West Nelson Tramping Guide
Caving
Kahurangi National Park includes major karst areas, at Mt Arthur,
Mt Owen, west of Collingwood, and north of Karamea in the Oparara
Valley area. The glacial karsts that have developed in the Mt
Arthur and Mt Owen marble ranges contain the longest and deepest
caves in New Zealand.
Refer to the New
Zealand Speleological Society's website for a short
description of the Kahurangi caving areas and caves.
Fishing
There are several large rivers in
Kahurangi National Park: in the north the Heaphy, Aorere and
Cobb, in the centre the Karamea and its many tributaries, in
the south the Little Wanganui, Matiri, Wangapeka, and Mokihinui.
Most rivers hold brown trout. There are rainbow trout in the
upper Cobb River, and eels in the western rivers. Access to
the rivers is easier in the east of the park. The western part
is wild and access to the rivers usually requires tramping skills.
Many of these rivers, the Karamea and its tributaries, Little
Wanganui and Mokihinui, offer wilderness trout fishing equal
to any in New Zealand.
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