In the past year, 26 volunteers from the Greater Wellington Backcountry Hut Network (GWBN) donated more than 5000 hours of their time improving the huts in their area, and across 32 tracks completed over 100km of maintenance. 

The group also launched a new project to supply cleaning materials to the 50 huts within its network, for hut users to then help keep the accommodation clean.

GWBN chair Derrick Field had noticed a lack of basic upkeep. Mould and lichen were spreading inside huts, vermin were leaving droppings across floors, and nature was claiming back its place around previously cleared sites. “Cleaning the huts needs to happen, especially those at damp, high-altitude sites,” he said. “But the simple cleaning tasks are often neglected. We saw a solution in providing cleaning materials at huts and encouraging users to do their bit.”

It’s since become a community effort, with local Wellington tramping club members carrying 20-litre buckets full of cleaning gear to the huts. Mitre10 in Petone has supplied goods at reduced cost and others have helped to buy materials.

“Volunteering is more popular now, and the backcountry community is ‘taking ownership’ of huts and tracks, and not always assuming it’s DOC’s job,” Field said.