Westland Tai Poutini National Park runs along the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, established in 1960 to mark the centenary of European settlement in Westland District and covering about 1,320 square kilometers. Its mountainous terrain rises from sea level to 3,498 meters at Mount Tasman and spans high alpine tundra to the coastal wetlands of Okarito Lagoon, shaped by heavy rainfall from westerly winds that feeds dense temperate rainforest. The park is best known for the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers and borders Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park along the Southern Alps' main divide, and its lowland forests hold the only population of the threatened Okarito kiwi, or rowi.
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