Record trampers putting pressure on DOC
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/02/record-trampers-putting-pressure-on-doc.html
Record numbers of visitors are tramping our Great Walks over the summer, and it's putting pressure on the Department of Conservation (DoC).
In Fiordland, on the remote Routeburn Track, even simple things like maintaining a toilet can get complicated.
Lake MacKenzie Hut on the Routeburn Track is one of the most remote flush toilets in the country. It's the second most popular of all the Great Walks with thousands of walkers tackling the track.
"We've got 15 tanks of sewage to come out, ten tanks from this particular hut and four from the camp site," DoC hut ranger supervisor Pania Dalley says .
A sewage disposal operation with a big price tag, requiring a chopper to lift 600 litres of human waste within the tanks.
Tourists have found the tracks to be bustling with fellow walkers. Hiker Michael Dunphy said: "It was a bit like Queen Street yesterday" and Nicola Dunphy said it's been quite noisy with some people's alarms going off at 5:30am.
The hut is at capacity from October right through to May, and that leads to an influx of day walkers who can't get a booking but still need to use a toilet.
An increase in the number of walkers has seen the amount of sewage double in the last three years, to fifteen tanks being taken out today when it used to be about eight.
Hut ranger Clive Rule has manned the MacKenzie Hut for 25 years, and he's seen bookings for the 55 beds made six months in advance.
"We are at capacity, we wouldn't want more people, I think, no," Mr Rule said.
It's a tough job to keep the balance between a clean green wilderness experience and the demand for our great outdoors.
Newshub.
44 comments
What are the current criteria for categorizing a hut as basic standard serviced?
I know basic probably will keep you dry. Standard is a bit better but what does one get for serviced?
When I read DOC's page about hut tickets, I can't see it saying anything about using facilities. Hut ticket fees are described as the fee per night. http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-stay/stay-in-a-hut/booking-and-paying/ http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-stay/stay-in-a-hut/hut-categories/
As @Gaiters noted, I'm usually fine with people using huts without staying there, as long as they're mutually respectful. Maybe there are specific facilities where it's different, like some of the Great Walk huts which get many day-walkers. I'm not convinced that hut fees are worth having in most places (although I'll pay them as long as they do), but that's a separate discussion that we've already had multiple times.
To me, huts are primarily about shelter. You're even required to pay if there's no bed you sleep on the floor with 20 other people, because you're sheltered. Much of this ambiguity seems to pop up when there are extra facilities which have obvious variable costs for the amount of use they get, like gas-powered cooking facilities. It's complicated, though, by DOC charging more for sleeping in huts which have these facilities despite not clearly charging for the facilities.
Flipping over the question, why should it be necessary to pay $15 a night instead of $5 a night to stay in a hut if one uses none of the facilities that basic huts don't have?
From the second link
Serviced huts
Serviced Huts have mattresses, water supply, toilets, hand washing facilities and heating with fuel available. They may have cooking facilities with fuel and a warden.
Fees for the hut:
Adult: $15 per night (1 adult Serviced Hut Ticket or 3 adult Standard Hut Tickets)
Youth: $7.50 per night (1 youth Serviced Hut Ticket or 3 youth Standard Hut Tickets)
Child/Infant: free
Fees to camp at the hut:
Adult: $5 per night (1 adult Standard Hut Ticket)
Youth: $2.50 per night (1 youth Standard Hut Ticket)
Child/Infant: free
Standard huts
Standard Huts have mattresses, water supply and toilets. Wood heaters are provided at huts below the bush line.
Or to put that another way for a hut in the bush in off season a serviced hut has hand washing facilities
the less fees DOC get at a specific hut, the more likely they are to scrutinise removing it... or in some cases downgrade it to a shelter...
In that regaurd people like me that use a pass probably dont get counted as revenue. Yes the pas gets written in the book but whats the bet they only count the tickets
well if people are visiting a hut and have a pass , that should still count for retaining the hut, DOC mentioned last year they recommended people fill out hut log books to prove they were using huts, and they have contributed financially to DOC. DOC said they would be looking to remove huts that had little use... Although if volunteers are maintaining the hut, i'm not sure how that would sit with DOC"s plan to remove them if they still had little use, DOC arent paying for their staff or conractors to maintain them
What doc counts as visitor use seems to vary from region to region. Some in the NI tallyed up hut nights from the book. Others count the number of enquiries about a destination. There are also track counters. Suspect there are as many variants as there are regions, if not more
DOC cant get much from Hut Tickets deposited in ticket boxes at hut, because of the Annual pass factor. There is data on proportion of ticket sales versus passes, but its still not much use
Mostly, hut books are used, ie bed nights. Not very reliable, hut book recording varies, (remote huts versus fringe/high use etc)
But at a lot of huts, its pretty obvious if usage is low, versus higher use huts.
But all that shouldn't be the criteria for hut retention. The strategic value of a hut is more relevant. Even very low use huts have a purpose.
The volunteer effort currently has meant most low use huts now have a "custodian" so removal isn't likely to happen, if the ORC is funding the upkeep
DG Lou Sanson has stated there will not be any more hut removals, on his watch
The difference between a standard hut and a serviced hut at three times the price is mainly in the presence of a separate wardens quarters and some of the time a warden to collect the higher hut fees. The triple priced fees don't go into providing any extra services for those staying at the hut, they go into paying for the system that allows them to make sure those fees are collected.
It doesn't make much economic sense to my mind. Last time I was at Greenstone Hut, I think 24 people there so virtually full. 4 kids for free (yay!), about 10 on annual passes, 10 paying $15 each for hut tickets. Counting $5 as an average proportion of the annual passes per person night, revenue for the night would be of the order of $200, in order to collect that they needed to build wardens quarters, pay their wages and employment costs, it seems they'd be well ahead if they didn't bother with wardens in these huts.
@madpom: "What doc counts as visitor use seems to vary from region to region. Some in the NI tallyed up hut nights from the book. Others count the number of enquiries about a destination. There are also track counters. Suspect there are as many variants as there are regions, if not more"
That's not necessarily unreasonable, either. The fundamental questions are about how useful the hut is. Part of that will relate to how much use it's getting, but the most effective method of estimating the use in one place won't necessarily match the best method elsewhere.
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| Started by | waynowski |
| On | 3 February 2017 |
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