Lake Rotokare

Lake Rotokare is a landslide dammed lake in the New Zealand region of Taranaki. It is located 12 km east of Eltham.

The 230 ha Scenic Reserve, in the Tangahoe catchment, is the country's largest wetland and lake habitat inside a predator proof fence. It is administered by South Taranaki District Council and Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust. Species in the Reserve include raupō, flax, purei, makura, pukatea, kahikatea, coprosma, swamp maire, water millet, jointed baumea, Australasian bittern, spotless crake, fernbird, gold striped gecko, banded kōkopu, koura, and short and long-finned eel.

Lake Rotokare should not be confused with Barrett Lagoon near New Plymouth, which has the alternative Māori language name of Rotokare.

History
The Reserve was created in the early 1870s. Road access was created in 1914. In 2008, the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust completed construction of a predator proof fence around the reserve.

Reintroduction of native bird species
A number of bird species have been reintroduced into the reserve:


 * Western Brown Kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) in 2012
 * Tīeke/saddleback and pōpokatea/whitehead in May 2014.
 * Hihi (Stitchbird) in 2017 with additional birds added to the population in 2018.
 * Pāteke (Brown Teal) in May 2019.
 * Titipounamu (Rifleman) in 2019