Victoria Forest Park, is situated on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. At 2,069 square kilometres (799 sq mi) it is New Zealand's largest forest park. The park is administered by the Department of Conservation (DOC).

The park is made up of pristine beech forest and includes all five species of beech found in new Zealand - red, silver, mountain, black and hard beech. The park includes the Inangahua, Maruia and Grey Rivers, and the Victoria and Brunner Ranges. Reefton is the main town in the area and is located on the South Western edge of the park. Reefton was once a coal and gold mining town, and old mining equipment can still be found in the Park.

During the 1970s, fourteen forests parks were set up as a result of pressure from environmentalists. It wasn’t until 1981 that Victoria Forest Park was afforded the same protection.

Victoria Forest Park is predominantly made up of beech forests which is also the largest remaining indigenous forest type in New Zealand as beech forests are normally located on mountain landscapes not suitable for farming and were therefore not cleared. Dependent on beech forest survival are three types of mistletoe, which include crimson mistletoe (Peraxilla colensoi), pirirangi or red mistletoe (Peraxilla tetrapetala) and the Alepis flavida. All three species of mistletoe are at risk of extinction as a result of possum browse. The beech forests also support the scale insect, which is a vital for the food supply of native bird and insect species. The scale insect lives in the bark of beech trees drawing in sap, which it then excretes as honeydew and is an important energy source for tui, bellbirds and kaka. The Victoria Forest Park provides essential habitat for a large array of fauna, just a fraction of which are described below.

Bellbirds inhabit native forest, including beech forest, and were previously common throughout New Zealand but significantly declined in number at about the same time ship rats and stoats arrived. These predators are still keeping bellbird numbers low today. The bellbirds play an important role in pollination of many native New Zealand plant species especially the New Zealand mistletoes, fuchsia and kowhai

The kaka is a forest parrot that was once widespread throughout New Zealand but in the last 100 years they have become far less abundant. This is a result of the mammalian predator numbers which increase significantly in years when beech trees seed as this also happens to be the only time when the kaka attempts to breed. Additionally, the kaka has to compete with wasps and possums for the honeydew produced by the native scale insects within beech forests.

The blue duck is one of only six species of waterfowl that permanently inhabits rivers. It inhabits rivers within Victoria Forest Park as well as other parts of New Zealand, feeding primarily on aquatic invertebrates. Blue duck numbers have declined over the last 100 years as a result of predation by introduced mammals and habitat destruction.

The South Island tomtit is a common small native forest bird of South Island New Zealand inhabiting various types of forests and shrub lands. Males are mainly black and white while females are mainly brown and white. The main threat to the tomtit is introduced mammals as they make easy prey because they nest in cavities and so are not able to escape from predators