Canadian couple acquire more high country

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A piece of Canterbury high country connected with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and author Samuel Butler has been sold to Canadians with controversial forestry plans.

Don and Helen Prouting have sold their 1327-hectare Tui station in Rangitata Gorge Rd near Geraldine to Fairlight Station Ltd for $6.3 million.

The sale received the approval of the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) in December.

Fairlight Station is a vehicle for Mari Hill Harpur and her husband, Douglas, who told the OIO they wanted to improve the station's farming and establish 300ha of new forestry on the property's upper blocks.

The couple already own an 880ha block in the area and also the nearby 2200ha Forest Creek Station, which they bought from Ray and Margaret Prouting in 2000 for about $3m.

About 500ha of Forest Creek Station has been planted in douglas fir trees.

Their holdings include about 3400ha near Kingston in Southland, where they controversially planted about 450ha of douglas fir trees. They are also substantial deer farmers.

South Island Forest & Bird Society spokesman Chris Todd said he did not know details of the planting plan, but forestry in the Canterbury high country was a concern for several reasons.

"Douglas fir is a wilding-prone species. They blow from here to kingdom come. They also displace native vegetation such as scrubland and tussock, which sequester carbon in their own right," he said.

"There's also a landscape issue. This is the heart of The Lord of the Rings territory."

Former Environment Southland chairman Ted Loose said he had opposed the planting on Fairlight Station because of the wilding pine problem on neighbouring properties and the potential effect on water quality.

Tui Station, which has an area of tussock called Butler Downs, was part of a huge station first farmed by Samuel Butler in the 1860s and named Mesopotamia.

Don Prouting's father, Malcolm, a former farm manager, bought Mesopotamia in 1943.

In 2008, other members of the Prouting family relinquished, under the tender review process, 20,000ha of Mesopotamia's pastoral lease land. The tract is now part of the public estate.

Hill Harpur is a photographer who exhibits in Canada, the United States and New Zealand. Douglas Harpur's father was born in New Zealand, and he has a sister in Christchurch.

Hill Harpur's wealth comes from her father, who was the son of James Hill, an American financier and railroad builder.

- © Fairfax NZ News