Mangapapa River (Bay of Plenty) Mangapapa River (Bay of Plenty) The Mangapapa River is a river of the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It rises on the north slopes of the Mamaku Plateau at the southern end of the Kaimai Range and meets the Opuiaki River at the head of Lake McLaren, which discharges to the Wairoa River a short distance downstream from the lake at the confluence with the Mangakarengorengo River. The river has been modified as part of the Kaimai hydro power scheme. The 15.6 MW Lloyd Mandeno Power Station is on the left bank of the river and
Bay of Plenty in the region struggled: the climate was ill-suited to sheep farming and the geography was inaccessible, further hindered by a lack of infrastructure. By the end of the century the population had started to dwindle. But after experimenting with different crops, settlers found success with dairy production. Dairy factories sprang up across the Bay of Plenty in the 1900s, with butter and cheese feeding economic prosperity throughout the early 20th century; local Māori continued to live on the fringe of this prosperity. Timber also became a major export in the 1950s, as kiwifruit did later. The present Bay of Plenty