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Forests and coast of Kahurangi protected

Hon Maggie Barry

Minister of Conservation
22 July 2016 Media Statement

Forests and coast of Kahurangi protected

A major new addition to the Kahurangi National Park in Nelson has been announced today by Conservation Minister Maggie Barry.

Five parcels of high value land totalling more than 890 hectares have been formally gazetted as part of the National Park.

“Kahurangi is one of New Zealand’s special places – a wild and rugged land of mountains and forests, pristine lakes and spectacular coastline,” Ms Barry says.

“With this addition, the park now covers 453,791 hectares – our unique natural heritage protected in perpetuity for future generations to enjoy.”

The new national park land includes an area in the Cobb Valley and land west of Mt Burnett that had been surrounded by the park.

“The 49 hectares of Cobb Valley land is particularly significant as it contains several rocky magnesite outcrops which are a hotspot for native plants – nine of which are found nowhere else on Earth.”

Three blocks of land on the park’s western boundary have been purchased by Crown through its Nature Heritage Fund over the past 10 years specifically to connect more of the park with the sea.

One of these blocks, a 204-hectare forest area by the Westhaven Inlet-Te Tai Tapu Marine Reserve, was generously sold to the Crown in 2005 by its owner Murray Gavin.

“The coastal forest at Westhaven has magnificent mature northern rata and rimu trees which are hundreds of years old,” Ms Barry says.

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“Mr Gavin originally bought the land in order to protect it from clearance in 1987 – he is a leader in local conservation groups and adding this land to the park is a fitting recognition of his work.”

The 330 hectare block between Big River and Kahurangi Point is home to one of the last remaining great spotted kiwi populations in the top of the South Island and also a species of giant land snail, Powelliphanta gilliesi kahurangica, unique to the area.

A 68-hectare block on the south side of Kahurangi Point contains a dune ecosystem with more pīngao, an important native dune-binding plant, than in the whole of the rest of Nelson put together.

The fifth block, 246 hectares west of Mt Burnett, contains a diverse forest ecosystem filled with rare plants originally purchased by the then Forest Heritage Fund in 1993.

“I am sure the new additions to the Park enhance its status as one of our most important natural areas.

“I’d like to acknowledge the important part local MP Dr Nick Smith has played in advocating for the extension of the National Park over many years.”

The Nature Heritage Fund is a government fund that enables land with high value ecosystems to be acquired for protection. Since 1990 the Nature Heritage Fund has been used by the Crown to protect more than 340,000 hectares of indigenous ecosystems through purchase and covenanting.

ends

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