Bushy Park Forest Reserve

Bushy Park Forest Reserve
Cabbage tree in Bushy Park
Location	791 Rangitatau East Road, Manawatu-Wanganui Region, North Island, New Zealand
Nearest city	Whanganui
Area	100 hectares (250 acres)
Established	1962
Governing body	Bushy Park Homestead and Forest Trust
website

Bushy Park is a forest located on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, at 791 Rangitatau East Road, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Kai Iwi, Whanganui, Manawatu-Wanganui Region. It features an Edwardian-era homestead, Bushy Park Homestead, which is a Category I heritage building registered with Heritage New Zealand, a predator-free native bird sanctuary, and a virgin rainforest. It measures approximately 100 hectares (250 acres), and is characterized as a "lowland remnant of rata-podocarp taka-puketea [sic] rainforest". According to Forest & Bird, Bushy Park is considered to be amongst the 25 best restoration ecology projects in Australia and New Zealand.

The 22-room Edwardian homestead, designed by Charles Tilleard Natusch, includes a 109 feet (33 m) long, 6 feet (1.8 m)-wide hall that runs the length of the residence, as well as wood panelling, carved mantels, and art deco lights. Built by Russell and Bignell in 1906 at a cost of £4,566 for G. Frank Moore, a cattle and racehorse breeder, the residence and park were given to the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand by Moore in 1962.

The homestead, bird sanctuary, and rain forest have been managed by Bushy Park Homestead and Forest Trust since 1994. The Bushy Park Festival, an annual event on the Sunday of Wellington Anniversary weekend, is the major fundraising event for the trust.

During the period of 2004 to 2005, a 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) pest-exclusion fence was built around the park and two aerial drops of rodent bait occurred later in 2005. The opening of Bushy Park’s kiwi creche, also in 2005, was marked by the arrival of a female kiwi chick from the Waimarino Forest.