The Backcountry Trust (BCT) and its volunteers have been working on around 50 projects this summer at a field cost of $450,000.

Junction Burn Hut in Fiordland National Park has been renovated by the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, under a project jointly funded by the NZ Nature Fund and BCT. A group from NZAC painted Barron Saddle Hut and installed double-glazed windows.

BCT national operations manager Rob Brown said Kiwi Hut in Arthur’s Pass National Park was also renovated. This major project was mainly funded “by a generous bequest from Dunedin’s Henwood family in memory of their late mother,” he said.

Canterbury Mountaineering Club and BCT volunteers collaborated in the first stage of the renovation of Lockwood Shelter at Temple Basin, also in Arthur’s Pass National Park. According to Brown, this major project will be spread over a few years.

Projects have also been completed in the North Island: Tongariro National Park’s Blyth Hut was painted and Awatere Hut in Ruahine Forest Park was renovated by a group from Palmerston North.

Two joint projects were also completed with DOC on Stewart Island: some track work on the North West Circuit, and maintenance on Christmas Village Hut. A group from Greater Wellington Backcountry Network also did a full clearance of the Matemateāonga Walkway Track in Whanganui National Park.

BCT has also been engaged by DOC Canterbury to help with some deferred maintenance in the region. Kennedy Memorial Hut in the Dobson had an old asbestos roof replaced with coloursteel, and work is also planned for Hamilton Hut, Hurunui Hut and Hurunui No. 3 Hut later in the year.

In August last year, BCT was granted $1 million to be used over two years, via DOC’s Community Conservation Partnership Fund.