McHughs Forest Park is a 43 hectare public recreational reserve on the edge of Darfield town in the Selwyn District of the South Island of New Zealand. It was established in 1893 as a plantation forest for timber and shelter, dominated by Douglas fir but with a mix of other exotic conifers.[1]
McHughs Forest Park was formerly part of the Selwyn Plantation Board’s forest holdings and is now owned by the Selwyn District Council and publicly accessible with a diversity of walking tracks. In 1986 Dereck Rooney described McHughs Forest as "the third-best Douglas fir stand in New Zealand".[2]
Under the planted conifer canopy is extensive natural regeneration of both native and exotic plants which harbour a diversity of animals and fungi.[3] Members of the Canterbury Botanical Society recorded 18 ferns inside McHughs Plantation in 1986, 17 of them indigenous to New Zealand.