The Wairoa Gorge mountain bike park, near Nelson, has been handed over to the Department of Conservation.

After months of negotiations, the world-renowned Wairoa Gorge mountainbike park is now a recreation reserve owned by New Zealanders.

American billionaire Ken Dart, whose company RHL NZ owned the land, announced last October it planned to donate the 860-hectare park to the Crown. 

On Friday, the land was officially handed over with the documents for the transfer signed.  

Department of Conservation northern South Island operations director Roy Grose said it wasn't every day that a foreign land owner wanted to gift a mountain bike park to the people of New Zealand. 

He said a lot of work had to be done to ensure the handover could take place. 

"It's a very special day and one that has taken a lot of work and patience."

Roy Grose, DOC northern South Island operations director said the Wairoa Gorge land transfer was special and 390 hectares of the land was assessed as having high ecological significance in the region.

The park was surrounded by the Mt Richmond Forest Park on three sides. Around 560 hectares were covered in native forest, with 390 hectares of that assessed as having high ecological significance within the region.

The gorge had a river running through the middle of it, a stand of Maitai flats that hadn't been cleared out by settlers and it formed a contiguous belt of beech forest. 

"Our key focus is the ecological benefits and that is really what got this one over the line," Grose said.

"What it means is that is a wedge of private land that will now be recreation reserve and protected forever."

He said mountainbiking was a growing recreational activity in New Zealand and the park was drawing visitors to Nelson from around the country and the world. 

"It's quite amazing to have an asset like this on our doorstep."

The 860-hectare mountain bike park was formerly owned by American billionaire Ken Dart through his company RHL NZ.

The Wairoa Charitable Trust had been appointed to manage the land with the Nelson Mountain Bike Club, who had a 40-year lease to operate the park. 

RHL director Ray Griffin travelled from the Cayman Islands, where Dart lives, to represent him at the formal handover of the land. 

It was estimated $19 million had been spent developing the site into a mountainbike park with 70 kilometres of handbuilt trails.

He said Dart was "super passionate" about conservation and mountainbiking, which was the focus of the work done by RHL NZ.

"As soon as he got here he realised there was an opportunity to do something with the natural landscape and with mountainbiking trails, the two things going intrinsically hand-in-hand together."

Dart's other investments were in real estate, biotechnology and retail.

When Dart purchased the land in 2010, Griffin said it was always his intention to undergo conservation work and return it to public ownership.

RHL director Ray Griffin speaks during the announcement of the handover of Wairoa Gorge at Tahunanui Beach Reserve.

It was something else to take that land and turn it into a world-class mountainbike park and Griffin paid tribute to the late James "Dodzy" Dodds, who was killed in a hunting accident in 2012, and Jeff Carter, both who were critical to its success. 

"Without them, building something like this wouldn't have been possible."

The pair hired more than 60 young Kiwis who were trained to hand-build mountainbike tracks within the park. Those individuals had since gone on to build single track trails in other parts of the world. 

"The trails in the gorge were all built by hand, which is quite a skill."

In terms of conservation, there had been a focus on native replanting, management of wilding conifers and other invasive species as well as trapping and pest management.

Griffin, on behalf of Dart, said he was delighted to hand over the Wairoa Gorge mountain bike park to the Department of Conservation and hoped that it was enjoyed by generations to come.

It was announced last October that the Wairoa Gorge mountain bike park would be donated to the Crown.

Nelson Mountain Bike Club spokesman Paul Jennings said the gorge was more than just a mountainbike park, it was the "best handmade bike park in the world".

"That's not just our opinion, that's what we get told from a lot of the visitors that come here, international and professional riders."

In the last three years that the club had been providing access to the park, 70 per cent of its visitors were from outside Nelson. 

"People are travelling from outside the region to literally ride at the park which is really rewarding to see."

The park was unique and provided easy access to incredible trails on challenging land. He said the trust planned to take that to another level by extending its offering to attract more people.

Written by Samantha Gee @ Stuff -  Jun 28 2019

Article added: Wednesday 24 July 2019