A natural forest pattern north of the Waita and Haast River mouths, West Coast

In the centre are a series of lakes created between the coastal dunes and the high terrace lands (left). The Waita River is in the middle distance and and the Haast in the far distance. A distinct change in vegetation occurs from the coast back, with a wind and salt-swept shrubland giving way to a māhoe and totara forest by the righthand margins of the lake. On the terrace land is a cover of mature rimu forest. The rimu forest extends down to the sea on the fertile alluvial deposits of the Waita River (above centre); it has been killed by flooding or fire on the near side. The tiny modern settlement on the Waita River mimics the probable location of pre-European settlement. Pre-European Maori may also have settled on the coastal margins of the lakes, although no sites have been recorded. From these locations they had access to the sea, to the fish and freshwater mussels in the lake, and the abundant fowl of the inland forests.