Waimakariri River Regional Park

This is the Waimakariri River Regional Park, covering 15,000 hectares along the banks of the Waimakariri River in New Zealand's South Island. Environment Canterbury operates it.

The Waimakariri used to be a huge, uncontrolled braided river that often flooded the land around it, but European settlement led to it being contained. The park was established to manage Environment Canterbury's land for river protection along the entire length of the river.

Different sections of the park are set up for different uses. For example, McLeans Forest has four loops totaling 17 kilometers for mountain biking, walking, and running. West Melton Forest is 350 hectares with mostly exotic trees, but also some scattered willow and poplar, and remnant kōwhai and kānuka. You can find bird orchids and other ground orchids here too. Firefighting waterholes and burrow pits in this section create habitats for some native plants and animals. The river bed here is an important breeding area for threatened river birds like the black-fronted tern and wrybill.

Kaiapoi Island is an area for motocross, whitebaiting, fishing, mountain biking, picnicking, swimming, kayaking, and jet boating. It's accessible via Kaiapoi and closes overnight. This section includes saltmarsh, relict saltmarsh, and freshwater wetland. Then there's Te Rauakaaka, which includes the Waimakariri River saltmarsh and Styx rivermouth, good for walking and bird-watching.

Baynons Brake is another recreation area, about five kilometers of riverside land between the Eyre Diversion River and Kaiapoi Island. Here, you'll find regenerating native plants like lemonwood, titoki, and New Zealand fuchsia, which provide habitat for birds like fantail and bellbird. You might hear a marsh crake at night. Riverbed birds here include wrybill and black-billed gull.

McIntoshs is set up for picnicking, fishing, and whitebaiting, and it even has wheelchair access and a fishing platform for blind anglers. Templars Island is a large freshwater swamp with regenerating native plants and bird life, and a walking and cycling track. There's also The Willows for walking, cycling, and fishing, and Weedons Forest for trail bikers and other non-motorized recreation.

It hasn't always been smooth here. In July 2013, two decapitated dogs and household rubbish were dumped between McLeans and Coutts Islands. In October of that year, a group broke into the Baynons Brake section, leaving litter and causing damage. More recently, parts of the park had to close in June 2021 due to flooding.