Category Archives: Hut systems

New Zealand Huts : Building blocks of the national hut system

New Zealand Huts Department of Conservation (DoC) System —

 Part A: Six Building blocks of the national hut system

(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study)

Introduction

This is the first in a series of posts (Parts A – E) providing an overview of how the NZ Department of Conservation (DoC) operates New Zealand’s collectively owned system of 962 huts.  The series includes:

  • Part A: Six Building Blocks of the DoC Hut System
  • Part B: How Many and What Kinds?  A Tally and Taxonomy
  • Part C: Operational Costs and Revenues
  • Part D: Notes on Ten Selected Operations
  • Part E: Great Walks Huts

Part A looks at what I am calling ‘Six Building Blocks, i.e. six of the key DoC documents that laid the foundations for creating a cohesive national hut system for NZ, the world’s largest. DoC’s policies and operational methods are well documented online.  The intent of this summary is to provide the reader a broad overview and links and pointers to more in-depth information.

First, a quick look at the NZ Department of Conservation as a whole.

Broad Overview of DoC

New Zealand Huts

NZ Department of Conservation Logo

DoC is the NZ government agency which operates the largest hut system in the world.  The agency was established under the Conservation Act 1987, which consolidated parts of several agencies, including the huts, tracks and other infrastructure for outdoor recreation, conservation and scientific work.   Prior to 1987 the organization of NZ land management agencies was based on those in the U.S., i.e. separate agencies for various types of federal lands.  The 1987 Conservation Act moved to consolidate many functions in one agency with a clear conservation mandate driving all land management policies and programs, and in the hope of better coordination among formerly distinct agencies with overlapping missions.  See Historical Perspectives for historical context on the development of DoC.

Continue reading →

Hut Principles: New Zealand Department of Conservation

This is quoted from the  NZ DoC document (n.d.) and linked to a broader piece LINK HERE:

NZ Department of Conservation: HUT PRINCIPLES

SELECTING A SUSTAINABLE CORE NETWORK OF HUTS

 New Zealanders have enjoyed a long history of access to a network of huts located at more than 1000 sites throughout the country’s conservation areas.  The majority of these facilities provide basic overnight shelter although some buildings can accommodate up to 60 people a night at popular destinations.  Between them these facilities are a significant contribution to the character of the backcountry, with many huts seen as important in their own right.  Indeed, local communities through the efforts of tramping and hunting clubs have provided many huts now available to the public.

  • Huts provide basic overnight shelter in conservation areas, complementing tent camping.
  • Huts between them create a range of opportunities for a variety of outdoor recreation activities including tramping, hunting, fishing and climbing.
  • Huts may be used for a weekend away, an escape during the week, or to support a multi-day trip.
  • In order to ensure that the right mix of huts is retained into the future to support a range of recreation opportunities, the following Principles and guidance will be used to make proposals on huts. The proposals arising from the use of these principles will not directly lead to management action, but will form the basis of discussion through the public consultation process. Over time the total number and location of huts may be changed within a location and the opportunities still retained.
  • These Principles apply to most huts including Great Walk huts but do not apply to locked booked accommodation or shelters.

HUT PRINCIPLES

Continue reading →

Hut Economics: what does it cost to operate the NZ DoC Hut System?

New Zealand Huts Department of Conservation, Part D:

Hut Economics: what does it cost to operate the NZ DoC Hut System?

by Sam Demas

(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study)

Determining hut economics is always the hardest part of studying huts.  Quite often I get little or no useful information from the operators, particularly from private operations.  With a government-operated hut system this has proved a bit easier in the case of New Zealand, though the data I have is an approximation based on some cost modeling that DoC has done over the years.

The bottom line:

  • the estimated annual cost to operate DoC huts is about $12,000,000,
  • DoC takes in about $7,500,000 per year in hut-related revenues, and
  • that leaves about $4,500,000 in net annual expense from the DoC budget.

These figures are only estimates; see caveats and details below.  All amounts are quoted in NZ Dollars.   Note: these estimates only do not account for the following categories of expense:

  • expenses for central services such as the web site and booking system, hut brochures, and Visitor Centers,
  • situations where clubs get a share of the hut revenues,
  • revenue from concessions, which are very difficult to break out specifically for use of huts.

Continue reading →

challenges and opportunities

New Zealand Great Walks: tourism and policies

New Zealand Huts Department of Conservation, Part D:

New Zealand Great Walks: tourism and policies

by Sam Demas

(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study)

The nine New Zealand Great Walks, with a total of 33 huts among them, are a lightning rod for the national discussion about changing conceptions and practices of human relationship with the wild.  Rightly or wrongly, the Great Walks are frequently featured in the discourse when concerns are voiced about DoC’s management of huts generally, its priorities, and where New Zealand is going with its hut system.

Is the nation pandering to tourism at the expense of traditional Kiwi recreational values and birthrights?  Are business interests over-riding conservation of and domestic rights of access to the conservation estate?  Is DoC enforcing a level of standardization and commercialization that takes diminishes the hut experience and the magic of traditional tramping?  How can the government ensure fair and equitable pricing and access policies for Kiwi trampers while dealing with the pressures of mass tourism?  These are controversial matters, as much in the realm of opinion as of fact.  I don’t have firm opinions or all the facts. See User perceptions of Great Walks Huts and Serviced Huts for a summary of user perceptions, which goes deeper into the controversies engendered by these higher amenity huts.

Continue reading →

cross cultural comparisons

New Zealand Great Walks: user perceptions

New Zealand Huts Department of Conservation, Part D:

Great Walks user perceptions

in Great Walks Huts and Serviced Huts

by Sam Demas

(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study)

In operating the world’s largest hut system, DoC caters for trampers with vastly different experience and skill levels, from different parts of New Zealand society and from all over the world.  DoC is continually trying to balance these disparate needs, abilities, and preferences through an evolving suite of “visitor management” methods.  There appears to be widespread public recognition that DoC is continually walking a very difficult tightrope.

While Kiwis recognize that it is not possible to please everyone, DoC has learned that it can count on experienced local trampers to let them know when their visitor management methods are perceived as undermining traditional tramping.  So DoC is well aware of the perceptions summarized below, and doubtless much more.

See related post New Zealand Great Walks: tourism and policies for broader context for these summary perceptions and for discussion of policies designed to address them.

Sources of user perceptions and notes on methodology

There are currently 33 Great Walks Huts and 95 Serviced Huts in the DoC system.  This combined total of 128 huts constitutes 13.3% of total DoC huts (963). The user perceptions summarized below are from these two hut categories.  While a small percentage of the whole system, these two categories attract the most intensive use and controversy.

This summary of user perceptions is derived from two sources: 1. from discussions that I gathered in three months of interviews and travels in NZ, and 2. from the results of an academic survey reported in the article “Tramper Perspectives on New Zealand’s Great Walks in a time of transition” (in New Zealand Geographer, 2017, p. 1-15, by Joe Fagan and Robin Kearns). [Alas, the link to this article will only get you the full text if you have access through a library with a digital subscription or if you wish to pay.  Otherwise you can get a paper copy at your local library or request it on interlibrary loan.]

Continue reading →

New Zealand Hut Wardens – roles and responsibilities

New Zealand Hut Wardens —

paid and volunteer, roles and responsibilities

by Sam Demas

(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study)

Hut Wardens are present in Great Walks and Serviced Huts.  Such huts are heavily used and often host less experienced trampers, in particular international visitors and beginners.  The purpose is to help ensure a safe and enjoyable experience; and they work to minimize environmental impacts in areas of high tramper traffic.  The presence of Hut Wardens in busy huts can deter vandalism. and help to set and maintain a positive overall tone within a group of people sharing living space, particularly if guests do not have experience with hut etiquette and sharing space with others.

Paid hut wardens clean the toilets and keep the hut tidy, among many other duties.  They are very often quite cheerful and friendly.

Paid hut warden positions are financed directly from the revenues collected.  An important role is to ensure guests have reservations when needed, and to check compliance in payment of fees and/or use of hut tickets. At Backcountry Comfort huts wardens are present “only where the revenue gained (from increased hut fee compliance) is greater than the full cost of providing the warden and running the warden’s quarters”.  At Standard Huts, (i.e. catering to Backcountry Adventurers), “wardens shall be provided only at times of year when the revenue gained (from increased hut fee compliance) is greater than the full cost of providing the warden and running the warden’s quarters” (quotes from DoC Hut Service Standards, p. 20).

Huts challenged due to growing use (e.g. degradation of water quality in nearby lakes or streams, vandalism, or other misuses of the hut) are assigned Hut Wardens as needed.  An example is Blue Lake Hut in Nelson Lakes National Park, where a volunteer Hut Warden was fairly recently assigned.  This hut has become a bottle-neck due to increase in use due to traffic on the Te Araroa Track, and overuse of campsites at Blue Lake threatens  water quality in its famously clear lake.

Continue reading →

New Zealand Hut Operations: Notes on ten selected DoC hut operations

New Zealand Huts Department of Conservation, Part D:

Notes on Ten Selected Operations

by Sam Demas

(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study)

New Zealand hut operations: a comprehensive view and analysis of DoC hut operations is beyond the scope of my time and capabilities.  Instead, following are notes on operational features I found particularly unique, interesting, and/or instructive.  The intent is to convey an introductory overview — hopefully a helpful point of entry — for people outside New Zealand who are interested in learning how DoC operates its huts.  This information was gleaned from reading DoC documents and from three months in New Zealand tramping and talking with folks.

Economics: what does it cost to operate the DoC huts?

Click on title above for a brief synopsis of costs and revenues based on conversations with Brian Dobbie, Technical Advisor, Recreation, Heritage and Technical Unit, DoC Central Office, Wellington.

Tracks

In New Zealand the term “tracks” is used in the way “trails” is used in USA.  The geology, climate and vegetation of New Zealand often conspire to produce rugged tracks challenging for both trampers and for those responsible for track maintenance.

Continue reading →

New Zealand Huts

New Zealand Huts Country Study: introduction

NZ Huts Notes for a Country Study: Introduction

By Sam Demas, hut2hut.info

(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study)

What and why? (purpose, scope, and audiences)   

The immediate purpose of this series of web posts, which are knit together by an annotated Table of Contents, is to provide a substantive overview of the world’s largest hut system.  This is an invitation to learn more about the remarkable culture and system of huts and tracks in New Zealand. Continue reading →

New Zealand Huts History

Historical perspectives on NZ Department of Conservation huts and tracks

by Sam Demas

(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study)

New Zealand huts history: one cannot grasp the meaning, extent, challenges and opportunities of huts in NZ without a bit of historical perspective.  Huts and tracks everywhere reflect the culture and terrain of the nations in which they evolved; this is vibrantly evident in New Zealand.  The piece provides historical perspectives on the DoC hut system only, and does not treat the broader scope of other (i.e. non-DoC) huts and tracks in New Zealand, e.g. privately owned huts.

 

What follows is a small historical sketch providing context for the other posts on NZ huts.  At the end of this post is a list of books for readers who want more than a cursory introduction to the historical context of huts in NZ.

The focus here is on the contemporary history of how the NZ Department of Conservation (DoC) — established in 1987 — came to inherit the world’s largest and best organized hut system, and how it forged the disparate parts into a coherent, government-operated system of about 962 huts.  A few key events in DoC history between 1987 – 2010 highlight how this transformation took place.  During this period about 100 new huts were built, most to replace existing structures in poor condition. Continue reading →

New Zealand Huts – How Many and What Kinds?

(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study

A Tally and Taxonomy 

This is an attempt by an outsider to convey to other outsiders a quick visual, numeric and organizational overview of the wild and wonderful range of New Zealand huts.  Most, but not all, are available for recreational tramping.

The count, or “Tally”, attempts to enumerate “huts” (broadly construed) in categories corresponding to how they are discussed by hut folks in NZ.  The description, or “Taxonomy”,  briefly defines these same categories and illustrates them with some examples that give a sense of the variety of hut designs. Continue reading →