Wikipedia:WikiProject New Zealand/National parks

Map of the national parks of New Zealand

This is the project page for a dedicated effort to improve articles on the national parks of New Zealand. The goal of this collaboration is to significantly improve the quality of articles on our national parks, ideally to the point that they could be nominated for Good or Featured Article status.

Current focus

Content improvements and expansion

• Abel Tasman National Park
• Arthurs Pass National Park
• Fiordland National Park
• Tongariro National Park

Copy edits and polish

• Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park Y
• Kahurangi National Park

Background

The state of articles on our national parks has been a semi-frequent topic of conversation in past collaborations, brought on by the perception that this doesn't reflect the natural or cultural significance of the parks for New Zealand. Following a discussion during the 2022 West Coast Wikipedian at Large project, an initial plan was proposed on the WikiProject New Zealand noticeboard. This unfortunately fell by the wayside, and didn't progress until recently. This effort will build off this work and help progress improvements to the national parks.

Scope

At present, the scope is currently limited to the primary articles on the 14 current and former national parks of New Zealand, and the article for the current protected area of Te Urewera which replaced the national park. If the collaboration goes well and there is interest in it continuing, we may expand the scope to cover other significant areas along similar lines, such as our world heritage sites, national reserves, or great walks. Features within the parks are also out of scope at present, as many of these are in a better state than the article of the park itself.

Articles

National Park	Rating		Wikimedia Category and Wikidata	Version as of 1 January 2024	DOC Management Plan	Key associated articles (may have useful content)
	Initial	Current
Abel Tasman National Park	Start	B	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Abel Tasman National Park	Abel Tasman National Park Management Plan	Abel Tasman Coast Track Abel Tasman Monument
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park	C	GA	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park	Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park Management Plan	Aoraki / Mount Cook Haupapa / Tasman Glacier Mount Cook Village The Hermitage Hotel
Arthur's Pass National Park	C	C	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Arthur's Pass National Park	Arthurs Pass National Park Management Plan	Arthur's Pass Arthur's Pass (mountain pass) Waimakariri River
Egmont National Park	Start	Start	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Egmont National Park	Egmont National Park Management Plan	Mount Taranaki Pouakai Range Taranaki
Fiordland National Park	C	B	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Fiordland National Park	Fiordland National Park Management Plan	Fiord articles (listed at List of fiords of New Zealand) Fiordland Great Walk articles for the Hump Ridge, Kepler, Milford and Routeburn Tracks Manapouri Power Station and Save Manapouri campaign Milford Road Te Anau
Kahurangi National Park	Start	C	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Kahurangi National Park	Kahurangi National Park Management Plan	Heaphy and Wangapeka Tracks Old Ghost Road Ōpārara Basin Tasman District Wharepapa / Arthur Range
Mount Aspiring National Park	C	C	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Mount Aspiring National Park	Mount Aspiring National Park Management Plan	Haast Pass Lake Wānaka Mount Aspiring / Tititea
Nelson Lakes National Park	C	C	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Nelson Lakes National Park	Nelson Lakes National Park Management Plan	Blue Lake (Tasman) Saint Arnaud, New Zealand
Paparoa National Park	C	C	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Paparoa National Park	Paparoa National Park Management Plan	Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Paparoa Range Paparoa and Pike29 Memorial Tracks Pororari River Punakaiki
Rakiura National Park	Start	Start	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Rakiura National Park	Rakiura National Park Management Plan	Stewart Island / Rakiura
Te Urewera National Park (disestablished 2014)	Start	Start	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Te Urewera National Park	Te Urewera National Park Management Plan	Lake Waikaremoana Ngāi Tūhoe
Te Urewera (Current entity)	Start	Start	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Te Urewera	Te Kawa o Te Urewera
Tongariro National Park	C	B	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Tongariro National Park	Tongariro National Park Management Plan	Chateau Tongariro Mounts Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe National Park, New Zealand, Ohakune, Tūrangi and Waiouru Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Te Heuheu Tūkino IV Taupō Volcanic Zone
Westland Tai Poutini National Park	Start	Start	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Westland Tai Poutini National Park	Westland Tai Poutini National Park Management Plan	Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers Ōkārito Lagoon Franz Josef / Waiau
Whanganui National Park	Stub	Start	Commons Wikidata	Old revision of Whanganui National Park	Whanganui National Park Management Plan	Whanganui River

Standard format

The below is a rough format which the articles should follow, to ensure a degree of consistency between them. This may need to be revised as necessary where there are particular areas of a park that deserve more prominence – for example, the article for Tongariro National Park would naturally have more discussion of volcanoes and geology than most other parks, while Fiordland National Park may wish to highlight the prehistoric glaciation which formed the fiords or Westland Tai Poutini the gold rush. As such, while the level two headings should stay consistent, treat the level three headings as more of a guideline.

==History==
===Use by Māori===
===Early Pākehā===
===Park establishment===
===Expansion===
===Recent history===

==Geography==
===Location and size===
===Climate===
===(Other subsections for notable features as needed)===

==Geology==

==Ecology==
===Flora===
===Fauna===

==Conservation and human interaction==
===Management===
===Access===
===Activities===

==In popular culture==

==See also== 

Progress and communications

A brief report on the project was given at the Auckland Wikicon 2024 on 24 March 2024. Here are the slides.

Wikidata progress

As of 18 August 2024, Wikidata items related to national parks and regional parks have been cleaned up and improved. This includes:

• One Wikidata item per feature
• Locations have correct geocoordinates
• Hills and saddles have information about their height above sea-level
• Rivers with Wikipedia pages are linked to OpenStreetMap, and have improved Wikipedia infoboxes
• Rivers have structured data, indicating river progression
• WikiCommons categories on national parks cleaned-up to include all features
• All features within national parks use the field 'located in protected area'
• Navigation templates created on the English Wikipedia, linking to all features found within the national park areas with articles.

Completed

• Abel Tasman National Park
• Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park
• Egmont National Park
• Fiordland National Park
• Kahurangi National Park
• Mount Aspiring National Park
• Nelson Lakes National Park
• Paparoa National Park
• Rakiura National Park
• Regional parks of New Zealand
• Te Urewera (area formerly Te Urewera National Park covered by Te Kawa o Te Urewera)
• Tongariro National Park
• Westland Tai Poutini National Park
• Whanganui National Park

Participants

To join, add your name to the below list using three tildes, like so: ~~~

• Turnagra (talk)
• Schwede66
• Marshelec (talk)
• Uninspired Username
• AtticEdit (talk)
• Wainuiomartian (talk)
• Ambrosia10 (talk)
• Prosperosity (talk) (will improve the Wikidata items of the parks)
• Chocmilk03 (talk)
• Pakoire (talk)
• Stitchbird2 (talk)
• Jon (talk)
• Alexeyevitch^(talk)
• Canley (talk) (can do mapping, OpenStreetMap, and Wikidata work)
• Add yourself here!