The Peel Forest Park Scenic Reserve is a forest reserve in the
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the ...
region in the
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman S ...
of New Zealand. It is located near the
Rangitata River
The Rangitata River is one of the braided rivers that helped form the Canterbury Plains in southern New Zealand. It flows southeast for from the Southern Alps, entering the Pacific Ocean northeast of Timaru. The river has a catchment area of , ...
and is in the foothills of the
Southern Alps. The park is managed by the
Department of Conservation as a scenic reserve, not a
forest park
A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment.
Examples Chile
* Forest Park, Santiago
China
* Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai
* Mufushan National Forest ...
.
Etymology
The forest was named by
Francis Jollie
Francis Jollie (1815 – 30 November 1870) was a politician in New Zealand.
Biography Early life and career
Jollie was born in 1815. The family was from Brampton, Carlisle, England. His father was the Reverend Francis Jollie, and he was the ol ...
, who settled in the area in late 1853. Jollie had named the forest after Sir
Robert Peel, the British
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who had died in 1850, the year that Canterbury was founded. The
adjacent mountain and the nearby community of
Peel Forest also took Peel's name.
Flora and fauna
The Peel Forest is the remnant of a large ''
Podocarpaceae
Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber P ...
'' forest. The three major tree types are the
kahikatea
''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of 60 m and a life span of 600 years. It was fir ...
(white pine),
tōtara
''Podocarpus totara'' (; from the Maori-language ; the spelling "totara" is also common in English) is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane and ...
and
matai (black pine). Logging reduced the forest to its current size.
For his lengthy botanical study of Mount Peel,
Harry Allan was awarded a
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...
in 1923.
The forest is also home to many birds including
kererū
The kererū (''Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae'') or New Zealand pigeon is a species of pigeon native to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin described the bird in 1789 as a large, conspicuous pigeon up to in length and in weight, with a white br ...
,
fantail ''(''pīwakawaka), and
tomtit
The tomtit (''Petroica macrocephala'') is a small passerine bird in the family Petroicidae, the Australasian robins. It is endemic to the islands of New Zealand, ranging across the main islands as well as several of the outlying islands. In ...
(miromiro).
[
]
Activities
Tramping
Tramping may refer to:
Travel
*Hiking
*Trekking
*Tramping in New Zealand, a style of backpacking or hiking
* Czech tramping, a Czech outdoors pastime
Places
* Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380, Saskatchewan, Canada
** Tramping Lake, Sas ...
is a popular activity in the park. There are several short walks, tramps, and one longer route that leads to the summit of Little Mount Peel.
See also
*Forest parks of New Zealand
Conservation park is a type of specially protected status for land held by the Crown in New Zealand for conservation purposes. The status is set up under the Conservation Act 1987 and the parks are administered by the Department of Conservation ( ...
* Protected areas of New Zealand
*Conservation in New Zealand
Conservation in New Zealand has a history associated with both Māori and Europeans. Both groups of people caused a loss of species and both altered their behaviour to a degree after realising their effect on indigenous flora and fauna.
Protected ...
* Tramping in New Zealand
References
{{reflist
External links
Peel Forest Park
at the Department of Conservation
Parks in Canterbury, New Zealand
Protected areas established in 1909
1909 establishments in New Zealand