Tongariro National Park (; ) is the oldest

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

in New Zealand,Department of Conservation
"Tongariro National Park: Features"
, retrieved 21 April 2013 located in the central

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-larges ...

. It has been acknowledged by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

of mixed

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

and natural values. Tongariro National Park was the sixth national park established in the world. The active

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...

mountains Ruapehu,

Ngauruhoe Mount Ngāuruhoe (also spelled Ngauruhoe; Māori: ''Ngāuruhoe'') is a volcanic cone in New Zealand. It is the youngest vent in the Tongariro stratovolcano complex on the Central Plateau of the North Island and first erupted about 2,500 ...

, and Tongariro are located in the centre of the park. There are a number of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

religious sites within the park, and many of the park's summits, including Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu, are '' tapu'', or sacred. The park includes many towns around its boundary including Ohakune, Waiouru, Horopito, Pokaka,

Erua Erua is a small town on the North Island Central Plateau in New Zealand. The town is located on New Zealand State Highway 4 immediately to the south of the town of National Park. The town is administered by the Ruapehu District Council and fa ...

, National Park Village,

Whakapapa skifield Whakapapa skifield is a commercial skifield on the northern side of Mount Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park, New Zealand. It is one of three skifields on the mountain, the others being Turoa, which is on Ruapehu's south-western slopes and Tukin ...

and Tūrangi. The Tongariro National Park is home to the famed

Tongariro Alpine Crossing The Tongariro Alpine Crossing in Tongariro National Park is a tramping track in New Zealand, and is among the most popular day hikes in the country. The Tongariro National Park is a World Heritage site which has the distinction of dual status, ...

, widely regarded as one of the world's best one-day hikes.

Geography

Location

Tongariro National Park covers 786 km² stretching between 175° 22' and 175° 48' East and 38° 58' and 39° 25' South in the heart of the North Island of New Zealand. It is just a few kilometres west-southwest of

Lake Taupō Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; mi, Taupō-nui-a-Tia or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of the Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's n ...

. It is 330 km south of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

by road, and 320 km north of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

. It contains a considerable part of the North Island Volcanic Plateau. Directly to the east stand the hills of the Kaimanawa range. The

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natur ...

rises within the park and flows through Whanganui National Park to the west. Most of the park is located in the

Ruapehu District Ruapehu District is a territorial authority in the centre of New Zealand's North Island. It has an area of 6,734 square kilometers and the district's population in was . Features The district is landlocked, and contains the western half of the ...

(Manawatū-Whanganui region), although the northeast is in the

Taupō District Taupō District is a territorial authority district in New Zealand. It covers 6,333 km² of land, and a further 610 km² of lake area, including Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake, and Lake Rotoaira. The district stretches from the ...

(Waikato Region, or Hawke's Bay Region to the north).

Dimension

Tongariro National Park stretches around the massif of the three active volcanoes Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Tongariro. The Pihanga Scenic Reserve, containing Lake Rotopounamu, Mount Pihanga and the Kakaramea-Tihia Massif, though separate from the main park area, is still part of the national park. On the park borders are the towns of Tūrangi, National Park Village and Ohakune. Further away are Waiouru and Raetihi. Within the park borders, the only settlements are the tourism-based village at Whakapapa Village which consists solely of ski accommodation. Two Maori kainga (settlements) Papakai and Otukou are not part of the park but lie on the shores of

Lake Rotoaira Lake Rotoaira (sometimes written ''Lake Roto-aira'') is a small lake to the south of Lake Taupō on the North Island Volcanic Plateau in New Zealand. It covers an area of 13 km². Lake Rotoaira is one of the few privately owned lakes in Ne ...

between the Pihanga Scenic Reserve and the main park area. The bulk of Tongariro National Park is surrounded by well-maintained roads that roughly follow the park borders and provide easy access. In the west, State Highway 4 passes National Park village, and in the east, State Highway 1, known for this stretch as the Desert Road, runs parallel to the Tongariro River. State Highway 47 joins these two highways to the north of much of the park, although it bisects the Pihanga Scenic Reserve. The southern link is State Highway 49. The

North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and se ...

railway from

passes National Park village.

Climate

Like the whole of New Zealand, Tongariro National Park is situated in a temperate zone. The prevailing westerly winds gather water over the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...

. As the volcanoes of Tongariro National Park are the first significant elevations that these winds encounter on the North Island, besides Mount Taranaki, rain falls almost daily. The east–west rainfall differences are not as great as in the Southern Alps, because the three volcanoes do not belong to a greater mountain range, but there is still a noticeable rain shadow effect with the Rangipo desert on the Eastern leeward side receiving 1,000 mm of annual rainfall. At Whakapapa Village (1119 m) the average annual rainfall is about 2200 mm, in Ohakune (610 m) about 1250 mm and in higher altitudes, such as Iwikau Village (1770 m), about 4900 mm. In winter there is snow to about 1500 m. Temperatures vary dramatically, even within one day. In Whakapapa, they can fall below the freezing point all year round. The average temperature is 13 °C, with a maximum of 25 °C in summer and a minimum of -10 °C in winter. In some summers the summits of the three volcanoes are covered with snow; on top of Mount Ruapehu, snow fields can be found every summer and the summit is glaciated.

History

The mountain summits are of great significance to the local

. In 1886 in order to prevent the selling of the mountains to European settlers, the local Ngati Tuwharetoa iwi had the mountains surveyed in the Native Land Court and then set aside (''whakatapua'') as a reserve in the names of certain chiefs one of whom was Te Heuheu Tukino IV (Horonuku), the most significant chief of the

Ngati Tuwharetoa iwi. Later the peaks of Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, and parts of Mount Ruapehu, were conveyed to

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...

on 23 September 1887, on condition that a protected area was established there. This 26.4 km² area was generally considered to be too small to establish a national park after the model of

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

, United States, and so further areas were acquired. When the New Zealand Parliament passed the Tongariro National Park Act in October 1894, the park covered an area of about 252.13 km², but it took until 1907 to acquire the land. When the Act was renewed in 1922, the park area was extended to 586.8 km². Further extensions, especially Pihanga Scenic Reserve in 1975, enlarged the park to its current size of 786.23 km². The last modification to the Act was passed in 1980. Tongariro National Park has been under the control of the New Zealand Department of Conservation since the creation of the department in 1987. The first activities in the young Tongariro National Park were the construction of tourist huts at the beginning of the 20th century. But it was not before opening of the railway in 1908 and the building of roads in the 1930s that a significant number of people visited the park. The second Tongariro National Park Act, in 1922, started some active conservation efforts, but it was not until 1931 that the first permanent park ranger began work. Road construction into Whakapapa valley had already begun in the 1920s. The first ski hut was built in 1923 at an elevation of 1770 m, thereafter a road, and, in 1938, a ski lift in the area. This early tourist development explains the rather uncommon existence of a permanently inhabited village and fully developed ski area within a national park. The hotel '' Chateau Tongariro'', which is still the centre of Whakapapa today, was established in 1929. In the early 20th century, park administrators introduced heather to the park, for

grouse Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes, in the family Phasianidae. Grouse are presently assigned to the tribe Tetraonini (formerly the subfamily Tetraoninae and the family Tetraonidae), a classification supported by mitochondria ...

hunting. Grouse were never actually introduced, but the heather is sprawling, threatening the ecological system and endemic plants of the park. Efforts are being made to control the plant's spread, however complete eradication seems unlikely. Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe

Tongariro Power Scheme

The Tongariro Power Scheme was designed to preserve and protect the natural surroundings as much as possible. It gathers water from the mountains of the central volcanic plateau, passes it through Rangipo (120MW) and Tokaanu (240MW) power stations, and releases it into Lake Taupō. The scheme taps a catchment area of more than 2600 km² and uses a series of lakes, canals and tunnels to take water to the two stations which typically generate 1400 GWh pa,. about four percent of the country's total electricity generation. The extra catchment increases the volume of water going into Lake Taupō and down the Waikato River by 20%. The western diversion takes water from six rivers and streams from the Whakapapa River to the Whanganui River, into Lake Rotoaira via Lake Otamangakau. The Tokaanu power station is connected to Lake Rotoaira via a six kilometre tunnel through Mount Tihia. It also draws water from the Tongariro River via the Poutu tunnel and canal. On the eastern side of Mount Ruapehu, water is diverted from the Kaimanawa Ranges and headwaters of the Wahianoa River through a 20 km tunnel into the Rangipo dam. The 120MW Rangipo power station is 230 m below ground. Its turbines are located in a cavern cut from solid rock and lined with concrete. Genesis Energy has developed mitigation measures with stakeholders that aim to lessen the environmental effects of the Tongariro Power Scheme. Some of these measures include lake level management, ecological monitoring programmes, and agreements with local iwi to establish a process for iwi involvement in environmental monitoring and access to information. The electricity generated at the Tongariro Power Scheme goes into the national grid. Then it is distributed to residential, commercial and industrial customers throughout New Zealand.

Geology

The park's volcanoes are the southern end of a 2500 km long range of volcanoes, below which the

Australian Plate The Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate in the eastern and, largely, southern hemispheres. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, Australia remained connected to India and Antarctica until approximately when India brok ...

meets the

Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and I ...

. These volcanoes have resulted from internal tectonic processes. The Pacific Plate subducts under the Australian plate, and subsequently melts due to the high temperatures of the aesthenosphere. This magma being less dense, rises to the surface and goes through the weak parts of the Earth's crust (the faults) resulting in volcanic processes in the area. Volcanic processes have been building the mountains of Tongariro National Park for over two million years. Three volcanoes (Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu) remain active, while the park's two northernmost volcanoes (Pihanga and the Kakaramea-Tihia Massif) last erupted over 20,000 years ago. They have however produced significant historic mudflows. Wahianoa valley

Erosion and deposition by mountain glaciers has also played an important role in shaping Tongariro and Ruapehu volcanoes. Small glaciers are present on the summit of Mt. Ruapehu today, however there is abundant geomorphological evidence for more extensive glaciation in the recent geological past. Glaciers were last present on Tongariro during the

Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eu ...

Biology

Flora

The Tongariro National Park is a rough and partly unstable environment. To the north and west of the park, a podocarp-broadleaf rain forest near

stretches over an area of 30 km², and up to an elevation of 1000 m. In this rain forest live Hall's totara (''

Podocarpus laetus ''Podocarpus laetus'' is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae, commonly known as Hall's tōtara, mountain tōtara or thin-barked tōtara. Previously known as ''Podocarpus hallii'' and ''Podocarpus cunninghamii'', in 2015 it was re ...

''), kahikatea (''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides''), kamahi ('' Weinmannia racemosa''), pahautea ('' Libocedrus bidwillii''), and numerous epiphytic

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

, and

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately fr ...

. Pahautea trees can be found further on up to a height of 1530 m, where they cover 127.3 km². On this level, one can also find a 50 km² beech forest, containing red (''Nothofagus fusca''),

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

(''Nothofagus menziesii'') and

mountain beech ''Nothofagus solandri'' var. ''cliffortioides'', commonly called mountain beech ( mi, tawhai rauriki), is a species of Southern beech tree and is endemic to New Zealand. Mountain beech grows in mountainous regions at high altitudes. In New Z ...

(''Nothofagus solandri var cliffortioides''). Understory species within the forests include ferns such as crown fern ('' Blechnum discolor'') as well as shrub species.C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Crown Fern: Blechnum discolor'', Globaltwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
There is also a 95 km² area of scrubland, containing kanuka (''Leptospermum ericoides''), manuka (''Leptospermum scoparium''), celery-top pine ('' Phyllocladus aspleniifolius''), inaka (''Dracophyllum longifolium''), woolly fringe moss (''Rhacomitrium lanuginosum''), small beeches and introduced heather. Tongariro National Park-109580

To the northwest, and around Mount Ruapehu, between an altitude of 1200 and 1500 m, tussock

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It ...

and tussock grass covers large areas (around 150 km²), consisting mainly of New Zealand red tussock grass (''

Chionochloa rubra ''Chionochloa rubra'', known commonly as red tussock grass, is a species of tussock grass in the grass family, endemic to New Zealand. Description New Zealand has 22 endemic species of ''Chionochloa'', including ''Chionochloa rubra'', which ha ...

''), inaka, curled leaved neinei ('' Dracophyllum recurvum''), wire rush (''Empodisma minus''), and bog rush (''Schoenus pauciflorus''), as well as heather and grasses like hard tussock (''Festuca novaezelandiae'') and bluegrass (''Poa colensoi''). Above 1500 m, the terrain consists of gravel and stone fields and is accordingly unstable. Nevertheless, some plants occasionally settle there, such as curled leaved neinei, snow totara ('' Podocarpus nivalis''), mountain snowberry (''Gaultheria colensoi''), bristle tussock (''Rytidosperma setifolium''), bluegrass and ''Raoulia albosericea'', which cover an area of 165 km². Between 1700 and 2020 m there are some isolated ''Parahebe'' species, ''Gentiana bellidifolia'' and

buttercup ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about almost 1700 to more than 1800 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed in Europe, ...

s. Above 2200 m live only crustose

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.North Island brown kiwi, kākā, blue duck, North Island fernbird, double-banded plover and New Zealand falcon/kārearea. Other bird species common to the park are tui,

New Zealand bellbird The New Zealand bellbird (''Anthornis melanura''), also known by its Māori names korimako, makomako, and kōmako, is a passerine bird endemic to New Zealand. It has greenish colouration and is the only living member of the genus ''Anthornis''. T ...

, morepork/ruru, grey warbler/riroriro,

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named a ...

, whitehead/pōpokotea and silvereye. The park also features the only two native mammals of New Zealand, the short- and long-tailed bat. The Tongariro National Park also teems with insects like

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s and wētā. Also present in the park, as well as the whole of New Zealand, are animals introduced by Europeans, such as

black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is ...

s, stoats, cats,

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit sp ...

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The g ...

possums Possum may refer to: Animals * Phalangeriformes, or possums, any of a number of arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi ** Common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula''), a common possum in Australian urban ...

and

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 ...

Activities

The main activities are hiking and climbing in summer, and skiing and snowboarding in winter. There is also opportunity for hunting, game fishing, mountain biking, horse riding, rafting and scenic flights. Mount Tongariro and its surroundings are one of the several locations where

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

shot ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy; tours to view these places are commonly arranged by the tour's operators and lodges. The most popular track in Tongariro National Park is the

. Most of the track is also part of the

Tongariro Northern Circuit The Tongariro Northern Circuit, one of the New Zealand Great Walks, is a three- to four-day tramp in Tongariro National Park, New Zealand. The hike includes the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a day's march that incorporates the Northern Circuit's m ...

, a two- to four-day tour, which is one of New Zealand's nine '' Great Walks''. Side trips to the summits of Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe are possible on these tracks. Another route is the three- to six-day Round the Mountain Track around Mount Ruapehu. Besides these, there are numerous shorter tracks appropriate for day tramps. With this track net, three camp sites, two emergency shelters, nine public and four private huts and the facilities in Whakapapa, the park is well developed for tourism. These tracks also serve as winter routes, as well as the track to the summit of Mount Ruapehu. Rock-climbing is also an option. Snow season is from late June to early November. The biggest ski area, also called Whakapapa, is on the north-western slopes of Mount Ruapehu. It has 15 lifts, covering an area of 5.5 km². Directly next to the ski field are 47 ski club huts; most of them also accommodate non-club members. The next settlement is on the bottom, in Whakapapa. A slightly smaller ski field called Turoa is on the south-western slope. Though it has only nine lifts, the skiing area, of 5 km², is almost as large as Whakapapa's. There is no accommodation at the ski field; the nearest town is Ohakune. These two ski fields came under common management in 2000. Ski passes can be used on both fields, and a lift or run from one field to the other is planned. Beside these major ski fields, there are also the Tukino ski area, a club ski field open to the public run by Tukino Mountain Clubs Association which is made up of ''Desert Alpine Ski Club'', ''Tukino Alpine Sports Club'' and the ''Aorangi Ski Club'' on the south-eastern slope. The ski clubs each have a 32 guest club on the field accessed by a 4WD road from State Highway 1. It has two nutcracker rope tows, and covers 1.9 km².

References

External links

Tongariro National Park
at the Department of Conservation
Datasheet
- UNEP-WCMC World Heritage Site {{Authority control National parks of New Zealand World Heritage Sites in New Zealand Tongariro Volcanic Centre Protected areas of Manawatū-Whanganui Protected areas of Waikato Protected areas established in 1887 Ruapehu District