‘Iron rangers’ to be put on tracks

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 4

‘Iron rangers’ to be put on tracks

“Iron rangers” will be positioned on popular tracks in the Nelson region this summer in a bid to encourage trampers to pay hut fees.

The Conservation Department has installed custom-designed deposit boxes in strategic positions outside huts on the Heaphy Track and the Abel Tasman National Park coastal track.

The iron rangers have been introduced because of the department’s concern at the number of people not paying hut fees on the two tracks, which attract thousands of trampers each summer season. Last year hut users were asked to pay fees to track wardens or at the nearest park office. "We collected $17,000 in the Coast track, which is well below what it would have been if everyone was paying their fees,” a conservation officer, Mr Colin Wishart,

said. “We hope to get a better response with this new system because people will be paying as they go and will get a receipt” Envelopes and receipt cards will be available in each hut Trampers will be asked to write brief details on the card and seal their fees in an envelope for deposit into an iron ranger.

Mr Wishart said that the brightly-coloured receipt would be tied to the party leader’s pack. Track wardens would check compliance rates and trampers’ reaction to the system. Use of the tracks and entry into the parks is free but adults are required to pay fees of $4 a night, with children paying $2.

As a further incentive, hut fees on the Abel Tasman coast track have been reduced from $7 to $4 this season.