Summer gardening, bush style

Looking after the garden is a traditional Kiwi summer activity, and it is no different for the Department of Conservation.

While the recent rain may have put a dampener on things, the department is planning to get stuck into the Ruahine Forest Park as the weather improves.

And it has already had a helping hand from the Defence Force to get one of its backcountry huts up to scratch.

The department’s Manawatu¯ senior ranger, Shaun Ruddle, said Daphne Hut, on the eastern side of the park, which extends north-east of Palmerston North, was in dire need of work.

The hut’s roof and floor had deteriorated, which meant declining numbers of people staying there, despite it being a key location for multi-day tramps.

But the hut was not on the maintenance schedule, meaning it would have continued to decay without intervention from the Defence Force, he said.

The army wanted to fill a gap in its training schedule for some of its tradesmen.

‘‘The Daphne Hut re-roof and renovations project was just the ticket,’’ Ruddle said.

Tradesmen from the army’s 25 Engineer Support Squadron replaced the roof, laid new flooring, built a deck and steps, improved the bunks and repaired interior water damage above the fireplace.

The project was a great way for the army to train, while the hut was now safer for users, Ruddle said.

There was more work to do, though, with the department planning to carry out maintenance on more than 40 kilometres of track, maintain roads, remove slips and paint some of the huts, he said.