St James Station is a former high country sheep and cattle station 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 ...

of New Zealand. It was renowned for its horse sales and covered an area of . It is now referred to as the St James Conservation Area and is managed by the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

. The station was purchased for $40 million by the government in 2008 using funds from the

Nature Heritage Fund The Nature Heritage Fund is a funding body of the New Zealand Government set up in 1990 for the purchase of land which has significant ecological or landscape value. It is administered by the Department of Conservation, but controlled by the Min ...

, as well as from

Land Information New Zealand Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with geographical information and surveying functions as well as handling land titles, and managing Crown land and property. The minist ...

. It had been owned by the Stevenson family since 1927. The government's purchase was a means of protection from

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ag ...

and development as well as guaranteeing public access. The

St James Walkway The St James Walkway is a -long subalpine tramping (i.e. the New Zealand term for 'hiking') track located in the Lewis Pass area of the South Island of New Zealand. It is administered by the Department of Conservation. History The St James Wal ...

is a popular

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 ...

track that passes through the area. The

New Zealand Cycle Trail The New Zealand Cycle Trail project (Māori: ''Nga Haerenga'', "The Journeys") is a New Zealand government initiative, co-funded together with local councils and charitable trusts, which is to build and operate a network of cycle routes throug ...

, announced by the Prime Minister as a boost for the economy, received funding for a St James Cycle Trail, which traverses part of the station.

References

External links

St James Conservation Area
at the Department of Conservation
St James Conservation Area
– visitor brochure from the Department of Conservation Geography of Canterbury, New Zealand High Country stations Protected areas of Canterbury, New Zealand Cycleways in New Zealand {{CanterburyNZ-geo-stub

See also

References

External links