Fiordland National Park

Fiordland National Park

Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand, an area known as Fiordland. It is the largest national park in New Zealand. During the cooler past, glaciers carved many deep fjords into this mountainous region, the most famous (and most visited) of which is Milford Sound.

Prevailing westerly winds blow moist air from the Tasman Sea onshore here into the mountains; the cooling of this air as it rises produces a prodigious amount of rainfall, exceeding seven meters in many parts of the park. This supports a lush temperate rainforest.

Helicopter Hunting

As long ago as the 1920s, the park was plagued with introduced European deer, detrimentally to the native New Zealand fauna. The goverment placed a bounty on the deer, paying local hunters for each animal removed from the park. Combined with the market for venison and deerskin, by the 1960s, this had proved a lucrative enough business that several hunters invested in helicopters, the better to travel through this rugged landscape. Deer populations plummeted as a result, and competition among hunters grew more fierce. Arguments between men armed with helicopters and high-powered rifles resulted in more than one pitched battle mid-air over the park. The government soon stepped in to prevent such extremes; combined with a growing farm-raised deer industry, helicopter hunting declined steeply in more recent years. However, its legacy lives on, as dozens upon dozens of former hunting helicopters these days carry tourists on sight-seeing aerial journeys.

External Links

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/001~National-Parks/Fiordland-National-Park/index.asp

http://www.geocities.com/nedu537/helihunt/