15 min from central Nelson

All Marsden Valley and Barnicoat Range tracks can be accessed from the end of Marsden Valley Rd, which is a 5 minute drive from Stoke. At the end of Marsden Valley Rd there is a car park on the right, just before the quarry. Here you will find an information panel with a map and details on trail times and distances.

Logging and high fire risk will close access.

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Barnicoat Range is named after James Wallis Barnicoat (1814-1905), an early Nelson surveyor. Marsden Valley is named after the Marsden family, who established a farm in the valley in the 19^th century. It was originally known as Poorman Valley, due to the lower class immigrants who settled on cheap land there in the 1840s. Only the stream that flows through the valley has retained this name.

Most of the western side of the range between Stoke and Richmond is used for plantation forestry, though a large part of Jenkins Hill and upper Marsden Valley remains original native beech forest. The latter is protected within the Marsden Valley Conservation Reserve, whilst the eastern side of Jenkins Hill is protected by the Roding Water Reserve. On the upper valley floor, there is only one large kahikatea remaining, though there is a cluster younger mataī a little further upstream. Most of the lower valley is regenerating native bush, with species like titoki and five-finger present.

Biodiversity and conservation have been a focal point in Marsden Valley for several decades. Beyond the road end, the valley floor alongside Poorman Stream has been planted with native trees by primary school students since the 1980s. Since 2007 the valley has been the focus of a predator control programme run by Marsden Valley Trapping Group. The area covered includes the whole upper Marsden Valley, which borders Brook Waimārama Sanctuary, as well as a few pockets in neighboring valleys. Trapping efforts have seen a noticeable increase in the presence of endemic bird species such as kererū, weka, fantail and robin, though browsing by pigs, goats and deer continues to be a large problem. There have also been multiple reported South Island kōkako encounters throughout the upper valley.

An interesting piece of history in the valley is the weir that used to supply Ngawhatu Hospital with water, which can be found at the end of the Loop/Weir Track. Another feature worthy of quick observation is the Roding water pipeline, which emerges from a 2.7 km long tunnel beneath the Barnicoat Range. The tunnel and pipeline were built in 1941 to supply Nelson with water from the Roding Dam, and today it still supplies around one third of Nelson’s water. There was also a small coal mine named Enner Glynn on the lower slopes of Jenkins Hill, which was opened in 1858 by Alfred Jenkins and constructed by John Marsden. This operation, along with several others nearby in Brook Valley, was never very profitable. Some evidence of mine shafts and workings can still be seen in Brook Valley today.