TECT Park continues to grow from the original vision of a giant adventure playground, where activities displaced by urban growth in the Western Bay, can set up a permanent home.
In 2004, this diverse and naturally rich area of 1,269 hectares of land, largely comprising of forestry and native bush in between Tauranga and Rotorua, was purchased by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Tauranga City Council with the support of naming rights sponsor TECT (Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust). Bay Trust provided initial loan facilities to councils for the capital purchase of the proposed park, an additional 381 hectares of land was then purchased by the councils in 2006, bringing the total area of land to 1,650 hectares.
Initial construction activities began in 2008, with the Park opening to the public, following a ceremony, in December 2010. Invited guests, representatives of Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District Councils, TECT (Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust, Tangata Whenua and the many user groups and individuals who had contributed to the Park's development, conducted a mass ribbon cutting, which marked the official opening of the TECT Park and the Arrival Centre.
The rest of the staged development plan is now well on the way, an approach that means different areas of the Park will grow to cater for a range of active and passive recreational activities.
Did you know
- The Park Ranger lives on site but is on rostered duties - Please call 0800 926 732.
- The Park is Smoke Free and dogs must be kept on a leash, unless being exercised in the off-leash dog exercise area.
- The Park entrance is 486m above sea level and the highest point is 570m.
- One quarter of the Park's standing trees are owned by overseas investors.
- Long-tailed and shining cuckoos migrate here from the South Pacific Islands every summer.
- It costs about $5/m to build a mountain bike track with a small digger and operator.
- It costs about $500/m to build a gravel road.
- The Arrival Centre is built using six different locally grown tree species.
- The Park has it's own radio repeater and channels.
- The Park is split almost in half by SH36.
- The Park almost surrounds the Taumata Reserve - Department of Conservation Land.
- Manulife Forest Management manage approximately 300ha of pine plantation in the Park on behalf of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. Public access is not permitted in these cutting rights areas.
- All streams in the Park flow north into the Bay of Plenty.
- 2.5 million people live within 2.5 hours drive of the Park.
- Native bats live in remnant native forest.