Murchison Mountains

The Murchison Mountains are named after Roderick Murchison, one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society.{{cite book |last = Reed |first = A. W. |authorlink = Clif Reed |title = Place Names of New Zealand |year = 2010 |publisher = Raupo |location = Rosedale, North Shore |isbn = 9780143204107 |editor = Peter Dowling |p=263}}

Native birds recorded in the area include takahē, mohua, whio, kea, New Zealand kākā, kākāriki, New Zealand falcon, weka, rock wren, tomtit, tūī, bellbird, fantail, rifleman, grey warbler, brown creeper, silver-eye, pipit and kiwi.

The 1948 discovery of the takahē, the largest living member of the rail family, happened after unrecognized bird footprints were found, and Geoffrey Orbell, an Invercargill-based physician, led an expedition to find the unknown bird.{{cite news |title=Gained in telling |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19490108.2.76 |access-date=25 March 2019 |issue=26974 |newspaper=Otago Daily Times |date=8 January 1949|issn=0114-426X |language=en |quote=“This fall the footprints of a big unknown bird were found in the wild mountainous country near Lake Te Anau, on South Island. Dr Geoffrey Orbell. a physician from Invercargill, led an expedition to look for it.}} After this, an area of {{convert|500|sqkm}} was set aside for the conservation of the takahē.{{cite web |title=Fiordland National Park |url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/ |publisher=Department of Conservation |access-date=18 May 2019 |language=en |quote=Unique and endangered wildlife – Fiordland is home of the Takahē Recovery Programme. This unique bird, the largest living member of the rail family, was once thought to be extinct. After the rediscovery of the takahē in the Murchison Mountains in 1948, a special area of {{convert|500|km2}} was set aside in Fiordland National Park for its conservation.}} Following the reintroduction of takahē to Gouland Downs in Kahurangi National Park, this is one of only two places where wild takahē can be seen.{{cite web |title=Where takahē live |url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/takahe-recovery-programme/get-involved/where-takahe-live/ |publisher=Department of Conservation |access-date=29 April 2019 |language=en}} It is the longest running conservation programme in New Zealand.{{Cite news|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld/audio/2018635907/turnaround-in-takahe-s-fortunes|title=Turnaround in takahē's fortunes|last=Ballance|first=Alison|date= 15 March 2018|work=Radio New Zealand |access-date=23 November 2019|quote=The Takahē Recovery Programme is the longest running threatened species conservation programme in New Zealand,}}

With the aim of protecting the native bird populations, the New Zealand Department of Conservation started a program in 2002 to control stoats in the area.{{cite web |last1=Maddigan |first1=Fraser |title=Kiwi in the Murchison Mountains |url=https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/kiwi-in-the-murchison-mountains/ |website=Geo News |access-date=20 May 2019 |language=en |quote=In 2002, DoC started a low-intensity but large-scale operation to control stoats in the Murchison Mountains. These form a 51,000 ha peninsula on the western side of Lake Te Anau. Protected on three sides by the lake and on the fourth side by remoteness, the area is home to a number of increasingly scarce native birds. Most famous is the takahe, but also present are mohua, blue duck, kea, kākā, kākāriki, New Zealand falcon, weka, rock wren, tomtit, tūī, bellbird, fantail, rifleman, grey warbler, brown creeper, silver-eye, pipit—and kiwi.}} In 2007, a population increase of stoats in the mountains after a beech and tussock mast seeding led to a halving of the takahē population.{{cite web |url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/takahe-recovery-programme/get-involved/where-takahe-live/murchison-mountains/ |title=Murchison Mountains |publisher=Department of Conservation |language=en |quote=Life is tough in the takahē's alpine home, but by 2007, things were looking up. The population in the Murchison Mountains had almost reached 200 birds when disaster struck. Following a beech and tussock mast (a mass seeding of beech trees and tussocks which happens every few years), the mountains were besieged by a plague of stoats. Within the span of a few months, the wild population of takahē was halved.}} The numbers of red deer in the Murchison Mountains steadily grew between 1930 and 1973 but hunting on foot and helicopter reduced the population by 60% between 1973 and 1975.{{cite journal |author1=J. Parkes, K. Tustin, L. Stanley |title=The history and control of red deer in the takahe area, Murchison Mountains, Fiordland National Park |journal=New Zealand Journal of Ecology |date=1978 |volume=1 |pages=145–152 |url=https://newzealandecology.org/nzje/1421.pdf |access-date=30 May 2019 |publisher=New Zealand Ecological Society |language=en |issn=0110-6465 |quote=Numbers of red deer (Cervus elaphus scoticus) increased steadily in this area of New Zealand from the 1930s to 1973 causing extensive damage to vegetation and competition with takahe (Notornis mantelli), a rare flightless bird. Hunting on foot and especially by helicopter reduced the red deer population by 60% between 1973 and 1975 and has nearly eliminated red deer from alpine grasslands which are the main habitat for takahe. Future management for sustained harvest of deer and acceptable competition with takahe is discussed}} In a 1953 expedition to the Murchison Mountains for the Canterbury Museum, W. R. Philipson discovered a new type of plant from the genus Pachycladon, Pachycladon crenata.{{cite journal |title=A New Species of Pachycladon |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute |date=1 January 1956 |volume=84 |pages=497–498 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/transactions-and-proceedings-of-the-royal-society-of-new-zealand/1956/00/00/-84/600 |access-date=2 June 2019 |publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand |language=en |issn=0303-6758 |quote=In 1953, when taking part in the Canterbury Museum Fiordland Expedition, I collected a small cruciferous plant from rock crevices at 5,000ft on the mountains west of Lake Te Au in the Murchison Range. The plants were very similar to Pachycladon novae-zelandiae in general appearance, but differed in possessing simple, not stellate hairs, and in the crenate, not pinnatifid, leaf margins.}} A 2007 study by the Ornithological Society of New Zealand reported that the New Zealand rock wren population in the Murchison Mountains had dropped by 44% in the last 20 years compared with a study in 1989.{{Cite journal|last1=Michelsen-Heath|first1=Sue|last2=Gaze|first2=Peter|year=2007|title=Changes in abundance and distribution of the rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris) in the South Island, New Zealand|journal=Notornis|publisher=The Ornithological Society of New Zealand|volume=54|pages=71–78|issn=0029-4470}}

{{Weather box|width=auto

|metric first=y

|single line=y

|collapsed = Y

|location = Murchison Mtns, elevation {{convert|1140|m|ft|abbr=on}}, (1991–2020)

|Jan high C = 12.8

|Feb high C = 13.2

|Mar high C = 11.5

|Apr high C = 8.4

|May high C = 6.2

|Jun high C = 4.2

|Jul high C = 3.0

|Aug high C = 4.2

|Sep high C = 5.8

|Oct high C = 7.4

|Nov high C = 9.7

|Dec high C = 11.8

| year high C =

|Jan mean C = 9.1

|Feb mean C = 9.4

|Mar mean C = 8.0

|Apr mean C = 5.3

|May mean C = 3.7

|Jun mean C = 1.7

|Jul mean C = 0.7

|Aug mean C = 1.4

|Sep mean C = 2.7

|Oct mean C = 3.9

|Nov mean C = 5.8

|Dec mean C = 7.9

| year mean C =

|Jan low C = 5.3

|Feb low C = 5.6

|Mar low C = 4.5

|Apr low C = 2.2

|May low C = 1.1

|Jun low C = -0.7

|Jul low C = -1.7

|Aug low C = -1.4

|Sep low C = -0.4

|Oct low C = 0.4

|Nov low C = 1.9

|Dec low C = 4.0

| year low C =

|rain colour = green

|Jan rain mm = 306.9

|Feb rain mm = 227.1

|Mar rain mm = 220.0

|Apr rain mm = 298.0

|May rain mm = 353.1

|Jun rain mm = 143.8

|Jul rain mm = 245.1

|Aug rain mm = 157.5

|Sep rain mm = 256.2

|Oct rain mm = 274.0

|Nov rain mm = 236.2

|Dec rain mm = 250.5

|year rain mm =

|source 1 = NIWA

{{cite web

|url = http://cliflo.niwa.co.nz

|title = CliFlo – National Climate Database : Murchison Mtns Ews

|publisher = NIWA

|access-date = 19 May 2024}}

}}

{{Weather box|width=auto

|metric first=y

|single line=y

|collapsed = Y

|location = Takahe Valley, elevation {{convert|895|m|ft|abbr=on}}, (1991–2020)

|Jan high C = 14.8

|Feb high C = 14.9

|Mar high C = 13.1

|Apr high C = 9.9

|May high C = 6.4

|Jun high C = 3.1

|Jul high C = 2.5

|Aug high C = 4.9

|Sep high C = 7.2

|Oct high C = 9.3

|Nov high C = 11.4

|Dec high C = 13.7

| year high C =

|Jan mean C = 10.0

|Feb mean C = 10.1

|Mar mean C = 8.4

|Apr mean C = 5.8

|May mean C = 3.3

|Jun mean C = 0.2

|Jul mean C = -0.6

|Aug mean C = 1.0

|Sep mean C = 3.2

|Oct mean C = 5.0

|Nov mean C = 6.6

|Dec mean C = 9.0

| year mean C =

|Jan low C = 5.1

|Feb low C = 5.3

|Mar low C = 3.8

|Apr low C = 1.6

|May low C = 0.1

|Jun low C = -2.7

|Jul low C = -3.7

|Aug low C = -2.9

|Sep low C = -0.8

|Oct low C = 0.6

|Nov low C = 1.9

|Dec low C = 4.2

| year low C =

|source 1 = NIWA

{{cite web

|url = http://cliflo.niwa.co.nz

|title = CliFlo – National Climate Database : Takahe Valley Cws

|publisher = NIWA

|access-date = 19 May 2024}}

}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/takahe-recovery-programme/get-involved/where-takahe-live/murchison-mountains/ DoC page on Murchison Mountains]

{{Authority control}}

{{Fiordland}}

Category:Mountain ranges of Fiordland

Category:Fiordland National Park

{{fiordland-geo-stub}}