New Regional Park Lake Tekapo

Turning a lakeside soil conservation area into a Regional Park helps recognise the importance of the area to the local community and wider region.

That’s according to Environment Canterbury’s South Canterbury Cr Bronwen Murray, following the decision by the regional council to approve the establishment of the Lake Tekapo Regional Park.

The Park comprises 165 hectares of forested lakeside land that lies along the Lilybank Road on the eastern shores of Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo is an iconic part of South Canterbury with views across to the mountains making it a compelling stop for locals and visitors alike.

The land vested in ECan was formerly known as the Lake Tekapo Soil Conservation Reserve, and planted with trees to stop wind erosion. It is popular for recreational users, and this had prompted members of the Lake Tekapo community to approach the council about the possibility of creating a regional park.

“Being renamed a Regional Park reflects the high value the community places on the land and this will flow on to how people use it,” says Cr Murray.

“It will enable existing recreational opportunities to be better managed and new opportunities created. The chance for the local community to partner ECan to create something really special.”

The new Lake Tekapo Regional Park will be modelled on the North Canterbury Waimakariri River Regional Park established two years ago.

“The Waimakariri Park is proof that creation of a regional park and active management does change people’s experience and attitudes towards the area dramatically,” says Cr Murray. “Our experience in North Canterbury shows that activities such as picnicking, walking and nature encounters increase while incidence of littering and dumping of vehicles decreases.

“Rather than wasteland, people start to view it as park land and a valuable community resource for all to enjoy,” he says.

Cr Murray says the Lake Tekapo community has already raised the idea of establishing a “Friends of Park” trust to assist and support Park management.

Existing funding will enable work to start later this year. ECan will convene a meeting with representatives of the Tekapo community, iwi and Mackenzie District Council to finalise details of the park’s development and funding.