Peel Forest

Peel Forest is a small community in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand. It is located near the Peel Forest Park and about 23 kilometres (14 mi) north of Geraldine. The town features a general store, a camping ground and an outdoor recreation facility. Popular activities include camping and tramping in the area, rafting and kayaking on the nearby Rangitata and Orari rivers and four-wheel-drive tours to nearby Lord of the Rings film locations.

According to Māori culture the large Tōtara trees located in the forest are the tamariki (children) of Tarahaoa and Huatekerekere whom themselves turned into Mount Peel and Little Mount Peel upon their deaths. They were both part of Ārai Te Uru's ill-fated trading trip along the Canterbury coast.

The first European to visit the region was Charles Torlesse in 1849 in the search for coal. Torlesse named the area "Gurdon Forrest" this was later renamed in the memory of Sir Robert Peel by Francis Jollie. The community took off in the 1850s with the rise of the timber industry. Kahikatea, Mataī and Tōtara were all milled in the region and the remains of the sawpits can still be found at Clarke Flat today. Saw milling continued in the region till after the 1900s. A horrified Arthur Mills who was visiting in 1881, was so taken back by the devastation that he personally purchased 16 hectares of untouched forest. This would go on to form the beginnings of the Peel Forest Park.

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