June DoC/User-group meeting

I went to the quarterly meeting the Conservation Dept hosts for 'recreation user groups' at its Canterbury Conservancy offices in Christchurch.

First up Ronan Grew (Waimakariri) announced there had been an administrative change to the meetings. Previously they'd been organised at Conservancy level, but now they'd been devolved to Area level. So we just had the Area Asset Managers talking to us rather than having a Conservancy bigwig in the chair. That was fine by me as I generally find it's more useful talking to people who are involved in things at a more practical level.

Andrew Turton (CTC) however expressed his concern no-one important would get to hear anything he might have to say. I don't share his concern. Memory came to me of someone asking, at the previous meeting, what DoC were going to do about the Woolshed Creek sauna. DoC's reponse was they didn't know about any sauna. But of course once it was mentioned they couldn't pretend they didn't know. And now it's gone.

Anyway the meeting followed the usual format with reports of work carried out by each Area. Only Ronan and Dave Milward (Nth Canty) were there to talk their reports, but there were written reports for Aoraki/Mt Cook and Raukapuka.

Ronan said Waimakariri were behind in their planned work because of staff shortages. One big thing they did get done was the refurbishment of Waimak Falls hut so it could be handed back to the CMC. Another good one was the spraying and clearing of gorse from the track to Pinchgut hut.

Dave's report had quite a bit in it and was also brightened up with a few colour photos of projects in his area. One of the big ones in Nth Canty is the new bridge-building on the Little River Rail Trail. Other goodies are new stoves in MacKenzie and Steyning huts. Packhorse has firewood and it'll have a new toilet shortly. Work is also underway for 120m of new boardwalk on the St James. There's also been work on day tracks on the Peninsula.

At Aoraki/Mt Cook the biggie was the new Plateau hut opening. Other than that it's mostly ongoing development of Mt Cook as a tourist entertainment park.

Raukapuka's biggie, the new hut at Woolshed Creek, hasn't started yet, again. And the chimney in the old hut has blown down. With that and no sauna now it's making things look pretty bleak at Mt Somers.

After the round of reports there was a PowerPoint show and talk from Eric De Boer of the West Coast. Eric's full of energy and he knows how to give good value in his presentations.

West Coast and Nth Canty are working together to develop tramping facilities in the Hope, Doubtful, Tutaekuri and Waiheke catchments (Topos L32 and M32). They're developing medium to long term proposals for new huts and recutting the tracks over Hope and Amuri passes.

Key elements outlined by Eric are:

• tracks in Tutaekuri and Waiheke to 'marked route' status.
• Doubtful hut - replace with new design of shelter.
• Doubtless hut - historic - maintain as is.
• Lake Man biv - replace within 10yrs - maybe elsewhere.
• Slaty Creek hut - historic - maintain as is - new standard 6 bunk hut also.
• Tutaekuri hut - new standard 6 bunk hut - further up valley.
• Top Hope hut - maintain - eventually relocate further up valley.
• St Jacobs hut - ?
• Hope Halfway shelter - maintain as is - didn't want to add water tank.

Lesley Shand objected to the suggestion of relocating Top Hope hut closer to the head of the valley. However I thought it was a great idea, as it would make it easier to access the tops north and south of the pass, and place it better for reaching the next hut down the Tutaekuri.

But anyway they're asking for submissions/comments on all or any of this to be sent to Dave Milward at Nth Canty by the end of August.

Eric also mentioned they'd built a new 10 bunk hut at Grassy Flat in the Styx.

The meeting wound up about 10.00pm with tea and bickies. I appreciate the willingness of DoC staff and the department to support these very worthwhile updates and conversations with the outdoor rec community.