Egmont National Park


Egmont National Park is located south of New Plymouth, close to the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The park covers the slopes of Mount Taranaki and is surrounded on all sides by pasture, giving it a distinctly circular shape.
The park was first created in 1881 as a forest reserve with a 6-mile radius around the cone of the dormant volcano. This went on to became New Zealand’s second national park in 1900.

Ecology

The park receives massive annual rainfall. Moist westerlies from the Tasman Sea form Orographic precipitation when they reach Mount Taranaki and the adjacent Pouakai and Kaitake ranges. Since the area has high annual rainfall and a mild coastal climate there is a lush rainforest covering the foothills, a forest which is nationally significant for the total absence of beech trees.
A rich northern rata/rimu/broadleaf forest is present, although the entire park ecosystem displays distinct patterns of altitudinal zonation - the former two large species of tree are common at lower elevations whereas kamahi tends to dominate the stunted high altitude forest. In these old growth forests the crown fern is a dominant understory plant species.
The character of the plant communities continues to change with increasing altitude, to subalpine and alpine shrublands at high elevations, which are in stark contrast to the surrounding pasture farmlands. Notable among the geographical features of the park is its clear radial drainage pattern, which can be discerned in the satellite picture at right.
The Ahukawakawa Swamp is a rare high-altitude sphagnum moss wetland located between Mount Taranaki and the Pouakai Range. It contains many endemic species adapted to acid soils and low temperatures.

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