With the remainder of the $1.2 million, granted by the DOC Community Fund over the last two years, left to allocate to volunteer track, trail and hut maintenance projects, the Outdoor Recreation Consortium is looking for applications from your club or group now!

The three organisations that make up the Outdoor Recreation Consortium – Federated Mountain Clubs, Trail Fund NZ and the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association – share a common goal to make the New Zealand backcountry more accessible for each group’s passion, and they’ve made massive strides so far!

With more than 126 projects completed or underway and almost $1m allocated, the Consortium Partners are pleased to see so many projects getting off the ground.

“We’re thrilled to be part of the Consortium and enjoying working with the other partners and all the volunteer groups around the country ” said NZDA President Bill O’Leary.

FMC President Peter Wilson can point to the numbers, “so far we have allocated $944,000 to 126 projects. Of these, there are 87 completed projects which were granted $542,500. These projects have involved 869 volunteers, 20889 volunteer hours and work has been done on 60 huts and 500 kilometres of track. It’s not all about the numbers of course, but they give an idea of the great stuff going on”.

And the Consortium partners hope outdoor Kiwis will continue to get involved, “these grants are geared towards giving backcountry users greater ownership of the facilities they care passionately about and it’s great to have so many applicants keen to take advantage of the opportunity,” Trail Fund NZ chairperson Ben Wilde.