Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand
Te Wāhipounamu, or South West New Zealand, is a vast natural park located on the South Island, covering approximately 2.6 million hectares—about one-tenth of New Zealand's total land area. This area is renowned for its pristine landscapes, which include four national parks: Westland Tai Poutini, Aoraki/Mount Cook, Mount Aspiring, and Fiordland. The park is characterized by dramatic landforms shaped over millions of years through tectonic movements, glaciation, and volcanic activity, resulting in stunning mountains, fjords, glaciers, and diverse ecosystems.
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990, Te Wāhipounamu is celebrated for its exceptional natural beauty and significant geological and biological diversity. It is home to unique flora and fauna, including rare and endangered species such as the kea and southern brown kiwi. The area holds cultural significance for the Māori, particularly the Ngāi Tahu iwi, who have historically maintained a connection to the land. Conservation efforts are paramount in this largely undeveloped region, with protective legislation ensuring the preservation of its natural state and ecosystems. Visitors can engage in various recreational activities while respecting the delicate balance of this extraordinary environment.
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Subject Terms
Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand
Site Information
Official Name: Te Wāhipounamu–South West New Zealand (Te Wāi Pounamu)
Location: South Island, New Zealand
Type: Natural
The park Te Wāhipounamu–South West New Zealand on South Island, New Zealand, extends inland about forty to ninety kilometres from the south-west coast along the Tasman Sea. At 2.6 million hectares, it is about one-tenth of New Zealand's total land area. The land is in a pristine natural state and is mostly undeveloped. One of the most unspoiled areas of the world, its landforms and biota reflect processes that shaped the earth millions of years ago.
The park consists of four national parks and numerous nature, scenic, wildlife management and scientific reserves. The national parks are Westland Tai Poutini, Aoraki/Mount Cook, Mount Aspiring and Fiordland. Westland Tai Poutini is located in the West Coast region and encompasses the beaches along the West Coast, the Southern Alps (Kā Tiritiri o te Moana), the Franz Josef Glacier (Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere), grasslands, forests, rivers, lakes and wetlands. Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is located in the Canterbury region and is a rugged wilderness area with glaciers, high peaks and landscapes of ice and rock. Mount Aspiring National Park is in the Otago region. It extends from the Humbolt Mountains in the south to the Haast River in the north. Mountains and river valleys cover much of the park. Fiordland National Park is in the Southland region. It has many fjords, lakes and U-shaped valleys.
History
Tectonic movements and changes in climate and glacial cover shaped the land that is now Te Wāhipounamu. New Zealand was originally part of the Gondwana supercontinent. Sediment from the sea and volcanic processes shaped the land. Then, about eighty-five million years ago, a large section of land—New Zealand—was separated from Gondwana by a rift and newly spreading seafloor that became the Tasman Sea. Separated from the rest of the world, its plants and wildlife developed in isolation. Heat, pressure and movement between two plates, the Australian and Pacific Plates, lifted land and sediment from the seafloor to form mountains and created the Alpine Fault, where the two plates meet. In the southern part of South Island, the Australian Plate has been pushed under the Pacific, which led to the formation and growth of the Southern Alps. To the north-east of the Alpine Fault, which lies in Te Wāhipounamu, are the Southern Alps, which are made of greywacke and schist. To the south-west is Fiordland National Park, whose granitic rocks were formed by molten magma that solidified. Volcanic eruptions and movement along tectonic faults uplifted land and reshaped it.
Glaciers reshaped the landforms of Te Wāhipounamu during several ice ages. About two million years ago, glaciers formed and moved across South Island. Their retreat created moraine ridges on the West Coast and filled river valleys with rock debris. During the Quaternary period and more recent ice ages, glaciers carved out land and formed fjords and river valleys. They formed depressions that became lakes when the glaciers retreated, eroded mountain peaks and carried rocks and debris that formed flat-topped terraces and marine ridges.
Evidence of how glaciers formed the land is evident throughout Te Wāhipounamu. The park contains numerous glaciers. The Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier (Te Moeka o Tūawe) are located in the Westland Tai Poutini National Park. The Tasman (Haupapa), Murchison (Te Hīwai), Hooker, Mueller and Fox Glaciers are in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, which contains large areas covered by glacier ice. The Bonar, Therma and Volta Glaciers are located near Mount Aspiring (Tititea).
Significance
Designated a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1990, Te Wāhipounamu is maintained and conserved to protect its natural state and plant and wildlife. It also has cultural significance to Māori people. UNESCO determined Te Wāhipounamu met four criteria signifying it had exceptional and universal value: it contains "superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty", outstanding examples that reflect geological processes that shaped earth, outstanding examples of the evolution and development of the region's biota, and "significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity".
The vast Te Wāhipounamu is largely undeveloped, and much of it remains in its primeval natural state. It contains scenic mountains, lakes, glaciers, forests, waterfalls, coastlines, grasslands and wetlands. The area contains numerous examples of the tectonic, climatic and geologic processes that shaped it, including landforms carved by glaciers and shaped by their deposits as well as mountains and rocky terrains uplifted and folded by tectonic forces and sediment from the sea. Moraine ridges show the chronological sequence of different periods of geological forces.
Because so much of the land is preserved in its natural state, the ecosystems remained untouched and allowed for the survival of many plant and animal species that were present in the area when New Zealand broke off from Gondwana. Examples of present-day plant and wildlife that represent ancient biota includes several species of flightless kiwis, carnivorous land snails, and more than a dozen species of podocarp and beech. There are southern beech and podocarps found in the area's forests that are more than eight hundred years old. The park is home to many rare and endangered birds, including the kea, takahē, southern brown kiwi, rowi, mohua, pāteke (Fiordland brown teal) and kākāriki (yellow-crowned parakeet).
Long before UNESCO designated the site a World Heritage Area, New Zealand recognised the value of preserving it to maintain its natural state and protect its biota and landform from human interference. The three fundamental acts that protect the park are the Reserves Act 1977, the National Parks Act 1980 and the Conservation Act 1987. The Crown owns nearly all of the property, which is administered by New Zealand's Department of Conservation. The Ngāi Tahu iwi (tribe) has traditionally held authority over the land and, through consultation with the Department of Conservation, contributes to the management of the property.
As part of the park management, only certain land uses are allowed. These include small-scale pastoral purposes; recreation such as fishing, walking and tramping, cycling, skiing, camping, boating, diving or hunting deer and pigs; or collection of vegetation by Māoris. The introduction of invasive non-native species has raised concerns for the ongoing survival of native species, and the Department of Conservation continues to try to control their populations.
Bibliography
"Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park." Department of Conservation, New Zealand, www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/canterbury/places/aoraki-mount-cook-national-park. Accessed 17 June 2024.
"Fiordland National Park." Department of Conservation, New Zealand, www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park. Accessed 17 June 2024.
McSaveney, Eileen. "Glaciers and Glaciation—Glaciers and People." Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 24 Sept. 2007, www.teara.govt.nz/en/glaciers-and-glaciation. Accessed 17 June 2024.
"Mount Aspiring National Park." Department of Conservation, New Zealand, www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/otago/places/mount-aspiring-national-park. Accessed 17 June 2024.
Swarbrick, Nancy. "National Parks—Western and Central South Island Parks." Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 17 Aug. 2015, www.teara.govt.nz/en/national-parks. Accessed 17 June 2024.
"Te Wahipounamu–South West New Zealand." UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 1992–2017, whc.unesco.org/en/list/551. Accessed 17 June 2024.
"Te Wāhipounamu–South West New Zealand World Heritage Area." Department of Conservation, New Zealand, www.doc.govt.nz/about-us/international-agreements/world-heritage/te-wahipounamu. Accessed 17 June 2024.
"Westland Tai Poutini National Park." Department of Conservation, New Zealand, www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/west-coast/places/westland-tai-poutini-national-park. Accessed 17 June 2024.