Nelson Lakes National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, at the northern end of the Southern Alps.

[1][2] The park contains beech forests, multiple lakes, snow-covered mountains and valleys created by glaciers during the ice ages.

The disputed claims were settled in 1856, although the agreements were not honoured on the most part by the Crown and not all the iwi with interests were included in the settlement.

Pressure from Māori groups to preserve land and support amongst Pākehā advanced the national park movement.

[11] The park is centered at two large lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa, and is bounded to the west by the Alpine Fault.

[15] A wide variety of ecosystems exist within the park, in turn supporting many bird, amphibian and insect communities.

Forests of mountain, red, and silver beech provide habitat for threatened kākā and kākāriki.

However, birds and insects that relied on the honeydew production of the park's beech forests have been severely negatively impacted by invasive wasps.

[12] The first record of kererū or New Zealand wood pigeon in the national park is from Charles Heaphy in 1846 who "obtained" six of them in a day and a half.

Julius von Haast wrote in 1861 that "no other bird being as numerous as the weka which was everywhere in the grassy plains, forests, as well as near the summits of mountains amongst sub alpine vegetation".

They are a small bird that lives on a diet of insects, with grey colouring and a white patch on their lower chest area.

[18][19][20][21] Large populations of kākā existed in the national park in the 1800s with "hundreds" living around Lake Rotoroa by about 1900.

[17] The blue duck or whio (Hymenolaimus malachorhynchos) was common in the Nelson Lakes region in the 1800s with Julius von Haast noting in 1862 that "It is found in all rivers, and is easily killed".

By 2009, there were too few birds, especially females remaining in Nelson Lakes National Park, to ensure the continuation of the species without human help.

[27] The South Island long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) were, in 1900, "a common sight" in the national park.

There is a project which aims to eliminate introduced pests such as stoats, possums, wasps and rodents, and allow recovery of the forests and native wildlife populations.

It is possible to see great spotted kiwi, robins, bellbirds, fantails, rock wrens, keas and paradise ducks as a result.

[citation needed] Rainbow Ski Area is located on the eastern side of the St Arnaud range, just outside the park on the slopes of Mount McRae.

One had to row across Lake Rotoiti and then hike to the top of Mount Robert while carrying all of one's ski gear.

[37] After a tourist succumbed to hypothermia while tramping alone near Angelus Hut in July 2018, more initiatives were taken to raise awareness of harsh and variable conditions in the park.