New Zealand Backcountry Trust

New Zealand Huts Department of Conservation, Part D:

New Zealand Backcountry Trust: adopting a home in the mountains

by Sam Demas

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

[I hope someday to receive pictures from BCT to include with this post]

The remarkable chain of events that engendered increased citizen involvement in hut and track maintenance is outlined in part 8 of Notes on Ten Selected Operations.  This movement in turn gave birth to an amazing pubic/private partnership, the Backcountry Trust (BCT).  BCT is one of the most exciting hut-related initiatives I encountered in NZ.  It represents the kind of cultural and governmental convergence of ideas, energies, needs and solutions that will help to carry the rich heritage of DoC huts into future generations.  The Backcountry Trust recently published a brochure with great photos and information showcasing some of their projects.

Established in 2017, the BCT grew out of grass roots hut maintenance efforts nation-wide and the resulting three year DoC funding experiment “Outdoor Recreation Consortium”.  Allocated $1,200,000 over three years to fund hut and track maintenance projects and was effectively a successful “proof of concept” project to answer the question, ” If DoC supported volunteers for biodiversity efforts, why not for huts?”.

Based on the success of projects funded by the “Outdoor Recreation Consortium”,  DoC allocated $700,000 over two years to formalize the granting process and fund three rounds of project proposals each year.  Since the inception of the “outdoor Recreation Consortium” and the efforts of its successor the BCT, volunteers have used DoC funding channeled through these organizations to restore 100 huts and over 900 km of walking and mountain biking paths.

The BCT clearly addresses a number of DoC values, including getting more people to participate in recreation, and engaging more people with conservation and valuing its benefits.

The BCT solicits grant relevant proposals of $5,000 to $20,000, providing complete applications guidelines on its website.  BCT grants officer is activist, photographer and writer Rob Brown and the six member board has two representatives from each of the three founding organizations: New Zealand Deerstalkers Association, Federated Mountain Clubs, and Trail Fund NZ.  These three organizations represent 135 clubs and 35,000 members or affiliates.  The BCT Facebook site Huts and Tracks  is one forum for passionate backcountry hut folks, and another is Remote Huts Forum and Blog.  An April 2017 post in Wilderlife by Rob Brown and Geoff Spearpoint provides a vision of the partnership.

The BCT website explains the workings of the program.  The projects page and photo gallery give a sense of the range of projects undertaken.  I especially recommend the website section quoted below, which provides links to some excellent reading on this amazing public/private partnership and how it operates an a nitty-gritty level:

Adopting a Home in the Mountains

  • Geoff Spearpoint, Rob Brown and Shaun Barnett have dedicated the final chapter of their latest Backcountry Huts Book  – A Bunk for the Night – to our vision for protecting the hut network: Preserving the Huts
  • Geoff Spearpoint has also written a practical guide to hut maintenance which gives a good idea of the type of work typically involved in these projects. If you are considering adopting a hut it is a must read: Adopting a Home in the Mountains
  • Geoff Ockwell has prepared a simple project planning spreadsheet, which gives a good idea of the materials required for a backcountry hut restoration.
  • The Backcountry Trust recently published a brochure with great photos and information showcasing some of their projects.