Kaingaroa Forest

Kaingaroa Forest covers 2,900 square kilometres (1,100 sq mi) of the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand, and is the largest forest plantation in New Zealand, and the second largest in the Southern Hemisphere (after the 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi) Sabie/Graskop plantation in South Africa).

[2] Prior to planting the area was a tussock and scrub plateau (ranging between 500 and 2,481 ft (152 and 756 m) high), formed on volcanic ash.

Experimental planting of douglas fir and radiata pine began on a 5 acres (2.0 ha) block at Kaingaroa in 1901 and continued from 1906 using Waiotapu prison labour.

On 1 July 2009, it passed to a group of tribes that were the traditional land owners in partial settlement of their claims that the Crown breached the Treaty of Waitangi.

The forests themselves (the trees) continue to be owned by a private company (Kaingaroa Timberlands Ltd), which holds a forestry licence over the land.