NISBETS VIEW

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 2

NISBETS VIEW

Trampers accept higher fees

PA Invercargill Trampers in Fiordland and Mount Aspiring National Parks have responded well to the $1 increase in hut fees, senior park rangers said.

Trampers have been generally only too happy to pay the increase, unlike those in some northern parks.

The chief ranger for the Fiordland National Park, Mr Terry Pellett, said the $7 a person charge at the park’s 16 main huts had been adhered to well.

Before last summer the Government ordered that fees should rise from about $1 to about $6. Last year another dollar, including GST was addled, although some more basic shelters in the park cost less. Recently some parks further north reported that trampers had been dodging the increased fees and the park administrators had no way of finding out how widespread the problem was, but Mr Pellett said that no such problem at Fiordland had become appar-

ent. “No doubt there are a few who don’t pay the fees — but it, would be only a few,” he said. The senior ranger at Mount Aspiring National Park, Mr Brian Ahern, said because there was no camping on the Routeburn track, trampers had to use the huts. He said trampers often believed the fee was used only for hut upkeep, but it was also used to pay for other services, such as rescue.